Palm Oil Biodiesel: Unlocking a Sustainable Energy Alternative to Fossil Fuels for a Greener Future

Dristi Majumdar; Om Prakash Chaturvedi; Sayanti Kar; Krishnendu Kundu; Abhishek RoyChowdhury; Dipsita Hati; Kaizar Hossain

doi:10.65773/see.2.1.131

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Article Type: Review Article

Issue: Vol. 2 No. 1 (2026): In Progress

Published: 26 April 2026

Pages: 1-21

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Majumdar, D., Chaturvedi, O. P., Kar, S., Kundu, K., RoyChowdhury, A., Hati, D., & Hossain, K. (2026). Palm Oil Biodiesel: Unlocking a Sustainable Energy Alternative to Fossil Fuels for a Greener Future. Synthetic Ecological Engineering, 2(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.65773/see.2.1.131

Authors

Dristi Majumdar ¹ ,

Om Prakash Chaturvedi ² ,

Sayanti Kar * ¹ ,

Krishnendu Kundu ³ ,

Abhishek RoyChowdhury ⁴ ,

Dipsita Hati ¹ ,

Kaizar Hossain ¹ ^*

¹ Department of Environmental Science, Asutosh College, University of Calcutta, West Bengal, India

² Department of Technology, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal, India

³ CSIR-CMERI (Centre of Excellence for Farm Machinery), West Bengal, India

⁴ Natural and Applied Sciences Department, Bentley University, Waltham, MA, USA

Abstract

Biodiesel has gained popularity in the last decade and is claimed to be an important weapon to combat the climate crisis. Many sources, such as Jatropha, soybean, karanja, canola, etc., have been identified for biodiesel production. This study aimed to discover the potential of Elaeis guineensis (Oil palm) as a promising alternative for biodiesel production. The study's main objective was to find out the potential of oil palm as a biodiesel feedstock. The biodiesel industry's market price and profit margin have also been considered for this study. The net energy ratio of biodiesel has been calculated by life cycle analysis (LCA). The result showed that oil palm is an economically viable choice of biodiesel feedstock. Oil palm biodiesel showed an average net energy ratio (NER) of 3; for Jatropha, canola, and soybean, the values are 4.7, 2.175, and 3.225, respectively. Internationally, pure-grade biodiesel, marked B99/B100, is priced at 4.30 USD/gallon. Industrially, with implementation of sustainable approaches in the production process, a profit of 1.08 USD/gallon (>22% of the production cost) is attainable. Understanding the current issues and approaching them with research-based alternatives might eradicate the present issues and make biodiesel into a viable alternative to fossil fuels.

Keywords:

biofuel policy, cost analysis, LCA, life cycle analysis, net energy ratio, oil palm

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