An Overview of Metal-organic Frameworks-based Acid/Base Catalysts for Biofuel Synthesis

Biofuel synthesis is of great significance for producing alternative fuels. Among the developed catalytic materials, the metal-organic framework-based hybrids used as acidic, basic, or supported catalysts play major roles in the biodiesel production. This paper presents a timely and comprehensive review of recent developments on the design and preparation of metal-organic frameworks-based catalysts used for biodiesel synthesis from various oil feedstocks, including MILs-based catalysts, ZIFs-based catalysts, UiO-based catalysts, Cu-BTC-based catalysts, and MOFs-derived porous catalysts. Due to their unique and flexible structures, excellent thermal and hydrothermal stability, and tunable host-guest interactions, as compared with other heterogeneous catalysts, metal-organic framework-based catalysts have good opportunities for application in the production of biodiesel at industrial scale.