Vegetable Oil to Biolubricants: Review on Advanced Porous Catalysts

Abstract

Vegetable oil is one of the most potential sustainable feedstocks to produce fuels and chemicals. The review emphasizes isomerization of fatty acid as an important path for biolubricant production. The role of solid acid catalysts, including zeolites, was highlighted to design better isomerization catalysts. The isomerization is a favored mesoporous site with intermediate Brønsted acid strength, which is also enhanced after metal doping on a porous surface. The hierarchical ferrierite (FER) catalyst showed the best selective isomerization with the 10-membered ring cavities, which can be regenerated easily. FER can be produced using a low-cost organic structure-directing agent. The possibility to design two-dimensional pore zeolites with pore mouth selectivity was also discussed. Moreover, the challenges for biolubricant formulation, with focus on palm oil, were also discussed with a detailed comparison to other vegetable oils. The highest palm oil conversion was achieved over the base catalyst, namely, Sr-doped calcium oxide, with a low catalyst dosage. However, the biolubricant-based palm oil still needs many advancements to achieve industrial standards.

Synthesis of Biomass‐Derived Ethers for Use as Fuels and Lubricants

“…Ethers derived from biomass also have the potential to replace petroleum‐derived automotive lubricants . Transportation vehicles consume almost 30 % of energy produced today, and of that approximately one third is lost due to friction and wear .…”

“…[48] Ethers derived from biomass also have the potentialt o replacep etroleum-derived automotive lubricants. [16,50,51] Transportation vehicles consume almost3 0% of energy produced today,a nd of that approximately one thirdi sl ost duet of riction and wear. [52,53] This gives rise to ag lobald emand forl ubricants of around35million tonnes per year,with automotive lubricants accounting for about 15 %o ft he total lubricant consumption.…”

Biodiesel and biolubricant production from different vegetable oils through transesterification

“…1 Moreover, the use of heterogeneous catalysts could also be a good alternative to traditional ones, especially making the catalyst removal from the final product easier. 17 This way, if the production of biolubricants is based on transesterification, the raw material could play an important role in the development of a biorefinery, as many other similar sources have been considered in the literature [18][19][20][21][22] (see Figure 1). However, not many studies have pointed out the feasibility of the design of a biorefinery based on vegetable oils through transesterification, although some parts of the process (for instance fatty acid methyl esters [FAMEs] production) have been widely studied.…”

“…Depending on the kind of catalyst used, it can be classified into acid‐catalyzed or base‐catalyzed transesterification, and the complexity of the final ester (influencing some properties of the final biolubricant) depends on the alcohol used for the alkyl interchange (ie, methanol or ethanol for biodiesel production and other superior alcohols for biolubricant production) 1 . Moreover, the use of heterogeneous catalysts could also be a good alternative to traditional ones, especially making the catalyst removal from the final product easier 17 . This way, if the production of biolubricants is based on transesterification, the raw material could play an important role in the development of a biorefinery, as many other similar sources have been considered in the literature 18‐22 (see Figure 1).…”

Comparison of Water-Removal Efficiency of Molecular Sieves Vibrating by Rotary Shaking and Electromagnetic Stirring from Feedstock Oil for Biofuel Production

“…Palm oil is primarily composed of free fatty acids (FFA) and triglycerides consisting of glycerol and three fatty acids. Palm oil is the largest feedstock oil provider for food, biochemical, and biofuels due to its highest ratio of oil yield/production area and lowest production cost among terrestrial plants [1]. The oil yield of palm oil is 5.5 t/ha in comparison with 0.5 t/ha and 2 t/ha of soybean and rapeseed oils, respectively.…”