posted on 2021-09-24, 18:40authored byHossein Jahromi, Sushil Adhikari, Poulami Roy, Madison Shelley, Ehsan Hassani, Tae-Sik Oh
The
present research and development for lubricant production from
vegetable oils rely on traditional (trans)esterification, etherification,
and/or chemical modifications of triglycerides and free fatty acids
(FFAs). However, the final products suffer from at least one of the
following: poor low-temperature characteristics, low oxidation stability,
low viscosity index, or poor solubility of additives. This study presents
a novel approach to produce biolubricants (BL) from the reaction of
waste cooking oil (WCO) and cyclic oxygenated hydrocarbons (COHCs)
(cyclopentanone, cyclopentanol, anisole, and 2-methylfuran) via a
four-step pathway: hydrolysis, dehydration/ketonization, Friedel–Crafts
(FC) acylation/alkylation, and hydrotreatment. Such reactions were
successfully demonstrated using model compounds (oleic acid and stearic
acid) and actual WCO feedstock. The process resulted in the production
of novel BLs that were consisted of molecules with several mutual
properties: (1) long and linear hydrocarbon chains, (2) low to zero
unsaturation, (3) minimal branching, (4) naphthenic rings and cyclic
structures, and (5) polar molecules. We showed that such BLs can be
synthesized with pour-point, kinematic viscosity (at 40 °C),
viscosity index, and Noack volatility of −12 °C, 47.5
cP, 186, and 17 wt %, respectively.