ABSTRACT
Nowadays, the idea of biofuels through utilization of biomass has been triggering in a exponential phase due to social, moral and environmental reasons for using hydrocarbon based crops for bioenergy. The concept of second-and third-generation biofuels from nonedible crops and wastes gains absolute social acceptance, still remains a big question. Usually, the biodiesel produced through transesterification of oils will produce in a batch mode with longer reaction times. The process economics of the biodiesel can be enhanced by implementing the continuous processes which results in a pure product (reduces down stream steps) through improved mixing with lower residence time (reduction in reactor volume). Ample scope is available for the use of process intensification techniques with an objective of making the synthesis economically viable and one such intensification approach is based on the use of different bioreactor configurations. This chapter is a comprehensive overview of current technologies and appropriate options for scale-up development, providing the basis for a proposal for the exploitation of various reactor configurations to optimize biodiesel production.
