This project will focus on the development of a new technology capable of producing the extraction and simultaneous reaction of oil from oil rich solid waste biomass. To test and optimize the process, avocado and jojoba seeds has been selected as the study cases, having 30 and 50 % of lipids respectively.

Different catalysts will be studied such as calcium oxide (CaO), magnesium oxide (MgO), Amberlyst 15, and Amberlyst BD20. The understanding of the reaction and its interactions (adsorption, reaction and desorption) will be studied via DFT modeling and validate it experimentally.

Kinetics models will be proposed and evaluated based on the DFT results.

Renewable energies are gaining more and more relevance in today’s society due to their great environmental advantages over conventional fuels. International agreements such as the Kyoto protocol and the EU Renewable Energy Directive have put the focus and pressure on finding new alternatives to reduce gas emissions, making liquid renewable fuels more attractive to substitute petroleum based fuels.

Among the options to overtake liquid fuels, biodiesel appears as the natural, and more realistic alternative, to substitute diesel. It is normally used as a blend with conventional diesel due to their environmental advantages: i) it is more biodegradable, ii) it has lower CO2 emissions (78% less emissions), iii) 48 % less carbon monoxide emissions, iv) 47 % less particulate matters, v) 67 % less hydrocarbons emissions, among other well-known benefits.

Results from this project can be found in Cristin