Room: Poster Area
Date: Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Time: 15:00 - 16:00 CEST
Session code 2AV.1
Sustainability assessments of biomass and bioenergy and social perspectives
Sustainability Assessment of Biolubricants Production From Oil-Seed Crops
Short Introductive summary
The progressive replacement of fossil-derived products with bio-based alternatives is a central pillar of the global transition toward climate neutrality and circular economy systems. Lubricants constitute a critical industrial product group with significant environmental implications, particularly due to leakage and losses during their use phase. This study presents a comprehensive sustainability assessment of biolubricant production from castor oil at commercial scale. Castor oil beans constitute a feedstock typically cultivated in marginal land and therefore hold particular strategic importance for the bioeconomy. The process design includes castor bean drying, mechanical pressing, hexane-based solvent extraction, chemical upgrading of oil via transesterification and subsequent esterification to produce ethylene glycol di-esters (EGDEs) as final biolubricant products. The techno-economic analysis demonstrates strong economic viability, with the calculated Minimum Selling Price (MSP) of $842.6/t is significantly lower than the assumed market selling price of the fossil counterpart. The proposed production pathway contributes directly to the objectives of SDG 12 and SDG 15.
Presenter
Sofia Maria IOANNIDOU
Agricultural University of Athens, GREECE
Biographies and Short introductive summaries are supplied directly by presenters and are published here unedited
Co-authors:
S. Skoutida, Agricultural University of Athens, GREECE
N. Vavylas, Agricultural University of Athens, GREECE
D. Ladakis, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, GREECE
A. Koutinas, Agricultural University of Athens, GREECE
Session reference: 2AV.1.23