Specialty chemicals from vegetable oils: achievements within the Greenchem research program

Abstract

Industrial biotechnology offers promising tools for transforming renewable resources into useful products. The research program Greenchem was started in 2003 with the goal to demonstrate that environmentally benign specialty chemicals can be produced from renewables using biocatalysis. This article provides a summary of the enzymatic processes on oleochemicals successfully established so far within the program, including production of wax esters, fatty epoxides, and biosurfactants. The environmental performance of these products is also discussed and compared to the corresponding fossil oil based products, from a life cycle perspective. A general observation has been that biocatalytic reactions are more selective and energy-efficient than the corresponding chemical processes; however, continued efforts are required for developing biocatalyst preparations with good operational stability in order to make biocatalysis an economically attractive option for the chemical industry. Furthermore, the choice of the raw material is of utmost importance in achieving the desired environmental advantages over the fossil based resources.

From Vegetable Oils to Polyurethanes: Synthetic Routes to Polyols and Main Industrial Products

“…Sodium methylate was reported 163 for transesterification reaction of fatty methyl esters with trimethylolpropane, reaching 85% yield at 110°C under reduced pressure. Enzymatic catalysts were also reported [163][164][165][166] but are not detailed in this review.…”

Beyond biofuels: economic opportunities, recent advances and challenges in property modeling for vegetable oils

“…The use of hazardous solvents, the energy consumption, the cost and the by-products generation must be considered as well. In this context, the use of catalysts (enzymes) offers a potentially cleaner and more energy-efficient production than conventional chemical processes in oleochemistry [32]. The enzymatic route can lead to fewer by-products, simpler product recovery, less waste generation and higher yields.…”

“…However, further developments in suitable enzymes that are not commercially available are necessary. This can involve genetic modifications on the organism that produces the enzyme to improve enzyme activity and stability under the process conditions [32]. The performance of the new chemicals at usage conditions is another important issue.…”

“…Indeed, when the whole chain of the processes involved is considered, unexpected conclusions can emerge. Törnvall and Hatti-Kaul [32]studied a comparative LCA of various wood coating products; they concluded that a fossil feedstock-based coating was the most favorable with respect to many environmental categories (global warming, acidification, eutrophication and photochemical ozone). The lower environmental performance of the wax esters coatings based on VOs was mostly due to the negative effects of the rapeseed oil cultivation stage.…”