bulletFeature Story
Harvest of awards at Geneva's Invention Expo Grand Prize and Gold Medal Catalyst for Green Biodiesel Production from Unrefined Feedstock

Principal Investigator: Dr Yung Ka-fu,
Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology

Biodiesel and catalyst

Biodiesel and catalyst

Biofuel is a natural and renewable diesel engine fuel derived from biological materials, such as plants oils and animals fats. However, the purification of traditional liquid biodiesel catalyst generates a huge amount of wastewater. PolyU researchers have thus adopted precise surface chemistry engineering to develop a new class of solid catalyst for use in biodiesel production.

Dr Yung Ka-fu (middle) and his research team  

Dr Yung Ka-fu (middle) and
his research team

This new Catalyst for Green Biodiesel can be synthesized in one step from low-grade unrefined feedstock such as waste cooking oil, with no aqueous treatment steps required. Ethanol or propanol extracted from plants can also be used to replace methanol in the synthesis to avoid the usual intense reliance on petroleum. With high catalytic activity, the catalyst can operate at significantly lower temperatures and pressures than existing solid biodiesel catalysts, and be reused more than 30 times. It is most certainly a clean, energy-saving and cost-effective innovation.