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Processes
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Advanced Catalytic Approaches for Sustainable Biofuel Production
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Advanced Catalytic Approaches for Sustainable Biofuel Production

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Biological Processes and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 August 2026 | Viewed by 1052

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Oyetola Ogunkunle

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centre for Global Change, School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Sol Plaatje University, Kimberley 8300, South Africa
Interests: alternative fuels; sustainable energy; biomass valorization; power and machinery

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The increasing global demand for sustainable and renewable energy sources has led to significant advancements in biofuel production. Catalysis plays a pivotal role in enhancing the efficiency, selectivity, and economic viability of biofuels by optimizing reaction pathways, reducing process energy requirements, and improving yield. The development of novel catalytic materials, enzyme-based biocatalysis, and heterogeneous catalysis has provided innovative solutions to the challenges faced in biofuel processing.

This Special Issue aims to bring together cutting-edge research and advancements in catalytic technologies for biofuel production, including, but not limited to, biodiesel, bioethanol, biogas, and next-generation biofuels. We welcome contributions on catalyst design and synthesis, reaction engineering, kinetic modelling, process optimization, and techno-economic analysis of catalytic biofuel production processes. Studies focusing on sustainable catalysts, green chemistry approaches, and industrial applications are particularly encouraged.

We invite researchers and experts from academia and industry to contribute original research articles, reviews, and case studies that advance the understanding and implementation of catalytic processes in biofuel production.

Dr. Oyetola Ogunkunle
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • catalysis in biofuels
  • heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis
  • enzyme-based biocatalysis
  • biomass conversion
  • green chemistry
  • bioethanol and biodiesel production
  • sustainable energy
  • process optimization in biofuels

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

36 pages, 4040 KB  
Review
Advances in 3D-Printed Microreactors for Biodiesel Production: Performance Evaluation, Challenges, and Sustainable Design Perspectives
by Oyetola Ogunkunle, Michael Olusoji Olusanya, Paul O. Fadojutimi and Reinout Meijboom
Processes 2026, 14(2), 266; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr14020266 - 12 Jan 2026
Viewed by 737
Abstract
The growing demand for renewable fuels has renewed interest in biodiesel production, prompting exploration beyond conventional reactors. This review assesses three-dimensional (3D) printed microreactors for biodiesel synthesis via transesterification, with a focus on their potential for enhanced process efficiency, sustainability, and modular deployment. [...] Read more.
The growing demand for renewable fuels has renewed interest in biodiesel production, prompting exploration beyond conventional reactors. This review assesses three-dimensional (3D) printed microreactors for biodiesel synthesis via transesterification, with a focus on their potential for enhanced process efficiency, sustainability, and modular deployment. Compared with conventional batch and stirred-tank reactors, 3D-printed microstructured systems often offer superior mass and heat transfer, enabling biodiesel yields up to ~99% in some studies, with critically short residence times (e.g., as low as ~5 s) and reported energy reductions of 60% to 90% under optimal conditions. Optimized configurations in recent work achieved energy requirements as low as ~0.05 to 0.12 kWh L−1, substantially lower than the typical 0.25 to 0.60 kWh L−1 for conventional setups. However, existing studies remain limited in number and scope: issues such as catalyst leaching, chemical and thermal stability of printing materials, dimensional inaccuracies, and scalability of microreactor networks remain under-investigated. Long-term durability, real-world feedstock variation (e.g., high-FFA waste oils), and comprehensive lifecycle assessments are often lacking, limiting confident extrapolation to industrial scale. Despite these challenges, the emerging evidence suggests significant promise for 3D-printed microreactors as a pathway toward modular, energy-efficient, and potentially low-carbon biodiesel production, provided that future work addresses their practical limitations and validates performance under industrially realistic conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Catalytic Approaches for Sustainable Biofuel Production)
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