Significant concerns over energy security and environmental impact reduction will drive all stakeholders to generate proper alternative energies. Biodiesel is a prospective cleaner-burning biofuel that can contribute on addressing these concerns globally. Presently, pure biodiesel (B100) application is still facing several obstacles, principally in terms of its cold flow properties. Improvement in cold flow behavior parameters is the solution to promoting biodiesel implementation at a higher percentage and wider environmental temperature range. This study provides a detailed review of several improvement methods, both physical, chemical, and biological, from various scientific sources, to elevate the cold fluidity characteristics of biodiesel. The investigated methods convincingly offer proper enhancement in the cold flow properties of biodiesel. Mostly, this improvement is accompanied by an alleviation in oxidation stability, cetane number, and/or viscosity. However, the skeletal isomerization method presents promising cold fluidity refinement with minimal reduction in other physical properties. Therefore, the continuous development of these methods promises global sustainable application of high-quality biodiesel.

The development of alternative energies has become a concern for all countries to ensure domestic energy supply and provide environmental friendliness. One of the providential alternative energies is biodiesel. Biodiesel, commonly stated as fatty acid alkyl ester (FAAE), is a liquid fuel intended to substitute petroleum diesel. Nevertheless, implementation of pure biodiesel is not recommended for conventional diesel engines. It holds poor values of cold flow properties, as the effect of high saturated FAAE content contributes to this constraint. Several processes have been proposed to enhance cold flow properties of biodiesel, but this work focuses on the skeletal isomerization process. This process rearranges the skeletal carbon chain of straight-chain FAAE into branched isomeric products to lower the melting point, related to the good cold flow behavior. This method specifically requires an acid catalyst to elevate the isomerization reaction rate. And then, sulfated tin(IV) oxide emerged as a solid superacid catalyst due to its superiority in acidity. The results of biodiesel isomerization over this catalyst and its modification with iron had not satisfied the expectation of high isomerization yield and significant CFP improvement. However, they emphasized that the skeletal isomers demonstrated minimum impact on biodiesel oxidation stability. They also affirmed the role of an acid catalyst in the reaction mechanism in terms of protonation, isomerization, and deprotonation. Furthermore, the metal promotion was theoretically necessary to boost the catalytic activity of this material. It initiated the dehydrogenation of linear hydrocarbon before protonation and terminated the isomerization by hydrogenating the branched carbon chain after deprotonation. Finally, the overall findings indicated promising prospects for further enhancement of catalyst performance and reusability.

Nowadays, the world is undergoing a transition toward cleaner and more sustainable energy systems, with superior-quality biodiesel emerging as one of the promising alternatives. To realize this level, oxidation stability represents a major challenge in methyl oleate–rich biodiesel. In this work, cis-trans isomerization employing sulfated tin(IV) oxide-based catalysts was proposed to address this issue with minimal adverse impacts on cold flow properties. The effects of non-precious metal modification (undoped, iron, nickel, and iron−nickel), reaction temperature (200–250 °C), and reaction time (1–12 h) were investigated. The experimental results demonstrated that Fe − Ni/SO₄/SnO₂ catalyst at reaction temperature of 200 °C and reaction time of 12 h provided the highest catalytic performance for the cis-trans isomerization, reaching a yield of 23.07%, a selectivity of 97.74%, and an isomerization turnover frequency (TOF) of 0.5 h^− 1. Co-impregnation of iron and nickel also effectively suppressed cracking reactions induced by the acidity of SO₄/SnO₂, although it slightly promoted hydrogenation. In this condition, a slight reduction was observed in the oxidation stability (ΔOS = − 0.1 h) due to the presence of olefinic cracking products. Meanwhile, the cloud and pour points were found to escalate (ΔCP = 1.5 °C; ΔPP = 1.0 °C), signifying a minor reduction in the cold-flow properties. According to these findings, sulfated tin(IV) oxide-based catalysts offer a promising prospect for further advancement to enhance catalyst performance and product oxidation stability. Graphical abstract

The current trends in research and development of FCC catalyst is focused on the formulation of active matrices that serve as pre-crackers, with the objective of reducing the diffusional resistance of the longer chain hydrocarbon molecule in the feed. In this study, an aluminosilicate active matrix was synthesised from metakaolin using hydrothermal method. The experimental variables that were varied were hydrothermal temperature, in the range of 80 to 110 °C, and hydrothermal time, in the range of 12 to 72 hours, to investigate the best conditions for synthesising the active matrix. Subsequently, the active matrix was subjected to a series of analyses, including X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, N2 physisorption, NH3-temperature programmed desorption, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetry, with the objective of determining its composition, crystal characteristics, surface characteristics, acidity, functional groups, material structure, and thermal characteristics. Additionally, the active matrix was tested for its intrinsic cracking activity using the micro activity test (MAT). The results indicate that the best temperature for hydrothermal synthesis of the active matrix is 80 °C. The active matrix synthesised with a heating time of 24 hours demonstrated the highest light cycle oil yield, reaching 38.9 wt%. Meanwhile, the active matrix synthesised at 48 hours exhibited the most favourable characteristics, with a specific surface area of 144.23 m2/g and a pore volume of 0.9933 cm3/g, as well as the highest cracking conversion of 70.0 wt%. Copyright © 2024 by Authors, Published by BCREC Publishing Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).