Renewable energy content of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME and glycerol)

Fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) and glycerol produced by transesterification reaction contain atoms that in the reagents belong to methanol and, therefore, are not renewable. A method to evaluate the content of the renewable and non-renewable energetic fraction, released during their combustion, was developed using a thermochemical criteria, based on bond dissociation energies and the knowledge of the molecular structure of the reagents and the products. Results show that the fraction of non-renewable. Energy in the most diffused FAME is lower than 1% depending on the lengths of the carbonaceous methyl esters. Meanwhile, the energetic supply for the GL of this fraction is about 1.6%. The data reported in this document can be used to develop a criteria that corrects the fiscal mechanism aspects of some renewable energy products.