Issue 3, 2025

Environmentally friendly process design for furan-based long-chain diester production aiming for bio-based lubricants

Abstract

Increasing environmental issues and depletion of fossil resources highlight the need to develop sustainable lubricant production technologies. This study endeavored to produce various biomass-derived furan diesters and evaluate their physical properties against conventional lubricants. Among the synthesized furan diesters, the THFDM-C18 diester, produced via the esterification of THFDM and oleic acid, was identified as a promising candidate for base oils due to its broad applicability as well as environmentally benign properties. Based on our experimental results, which include the hydrogenation of HMF to 2,5-tetrahydrofuran dimethanol (THFDM) using Ru/Al2O3 (achieving a 95.6% yield of THFDM) and subsequent esterification with C18-fatty acids to produce the THFDM-C18 diester using Amberlyst-15 (achieving a 91.0% yield of the THFDM-C18 diester), a simulation model was developed, which showed 62 metric tons per day of the THFDM-C18 diester. Life cycle assessment (LCA) results indicated that this process reduces CO2 emissions by 35.0% compared to fossil fuel-based synthetic lubricant production (9.84 vs. 15.15 kg CO2 eq.). The techno-economic analysis (TEA) revealed a minimum selling price (MSP) of 4.92 USD per kg, with MEG and oleic acid prices being the major cost factors. These findings highlight the potential of biomass-derived lubricants as sustainable alternatives to conventional petroleum-based products and emphasize the importance of further research to enhance process efficiency and reduce costs.

Graphical abstract: Environmentally friendly process design for furan-based long-chain diester production aiming for bio-based lubricants

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 Aug 2024
Accepted
20 Nov 2024
First published
21 Nov 2024

Green Chem., 2025,27, 607-622

Environmentally friendly process design for furan-based long-chain diester production aiming for bio-based lubricants

H. J. Lee, Y. Lee, E. Yang, J. Yoo, S. Choi, S. Hwangbo, Y. Suh, J. Beak, J. Han and Y. J. Kim, Green Chem., 2025, 27, 607 DOI: 10.1039/D4GC04191G

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