Two-step production of a furfural-derived biosolvent in a single reactor: an economic and life cycle assessment study

Yezeguelian, C. and Pera Titus, M. 2026. Two-step production of a furfural-derived biosolvent in a single reactor: an economic and life cycle assessment study. Green Chemistry 28 (15) , pp. 6702-6718. 10.1039/d5gc06149k

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Abstract

In this study, we investigated the credentials of furfural as a building block for producing 5-methyl-1-(tetrahydrofuran-2-yl)hexan-3-one (THF-ALD-1), a prospective biosolvent. The process consists of two steps: (1) aldol condensation–crotonisation of furfural with methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) to generate (E)-1-(furan-2-yl)-5-methylhex-1-en-3-one (ALD-1) and (2) selective hydrogenation of ALD-1 to THF-ALD-1 in MIBK. We conducted a comparative techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the potential benefits of process intensification in a single reactor using a bifunctional 5%Pd/Al2O3 catalyst compared to a two-reactor process employing two catalysts—Al2O3 for the aldol condensation–crotonisation step and 5%Pd/Al2O3 for ALD-1 hydrogenation. A sensitivity analysis was performed to identify the key contributing factors and propose levers to reduce the cost and environmental footprint of THF-ALD-1 production. Our study demonstrates that a single-reactor process can offer an 11% and 7.5% reduction in the full manufacturing cost and minimum selling point, respectively, alongside reductions in environmental impact in most categories, with statistically significant improvements observed for acidification potential (21%), photochemical oxidant creation potential (22%), freshwater ecotoxicity potential (19%), and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential (46%). Directional trends toward lower impacts were also observed in the remaining categories. The furfural and MIBK market price fluctuations, overall yield, MIBK/furfural molar ratio, and the number of Pd/Al2O3 catalyst regeneration cycles are critical levers that influence fresh Pd demand, waste generation, and heat requirements for distillation. Optimisation of these parameters could yield potential cost benefits up to 20% for each process and mitigate by 32–36% the global warming potential, non-renewable energy use, and abiotic and ozone depletion potential, with full statistical significance according to Monte Carlo analysis.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Chemistry Research Institutes & Centres > Cardiff Catalysis Institute (CCI)
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/, Start Date: 2026-03-06
Publisher:	Royal Society of Chemistry
ISSN:	1463-9262
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	1 April 2026
Date of Acceptance:	26 February 2026
Last Modified:	07 May 2026 09:01
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/186124

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