Assessment of greenness of catalytic deoxygenation of crop oil for green diesel production

Abstract

Green fuels and chemicals significantly contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, their green nature remains questionable in the absence of proper justification of greenness. There is a need for detailed assessment of greenness of claimed processes, fuels, or chemicals. The qualitative method discussed in this study establishes the greenness of a cleaner process of catalytic deoxygenation of waste cooking oil (WCO), leading to the production of green fuels and chemicals. All principles of green chemistry are considered for the assessment. The qualitative analysis of findings shows that 9 out of the 12 principles of green chemistry are fulfilled while the rest of the principles are not applicable for this process. Such discussion could be included in future studies to avoid any uncertainty about their claims of greenness of products or processes. If largely commercialized, catalytic deoxygenation of WCO could be a substantial benefit to the circular bioeconomy of the world.