UNIVERSIDAD DE CASTILLA-LA MANCHA

ESCUELA DE INGENIERA MINERA E INDUSTRIAL

DE ALMADN

ECOLOGICAL LUBRICANTS BASED ON

VEGETAL OILS

TEACHER:

Francisco Mata Cabrera

STUDENT:

Muresan Ioan-Sorin

2016-2017
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 1.INTRODUCTION

Lubrication is the process or technique employed to reduce friction between, and wear of one or
both, surfaces in proximity and moving relative to each other, by interposing a substance called
a lubricant in between them. The lubricant film can be a solid, (graphite), a liquid, a semi solid
(grease) or exceptionally a gas.

The success of the vegetal oils is related to their biodegradability and reduced toxicity, but a
wider use is limited by their insufficient stability in time. The biodegradable oils have ecological
advantages, being comparable or better than the mineral ones.

At present, approximately 50% of all lubricants sold worldwide end up in the environment via
total loss applications, volatility, spills or accidents. More than 95% of these lubricant materials
are nowadays based on the mineral oils. Owing to their low eco-toxicity and biodegradation,
these lubricants represent a significant threat for the environment, although they are efficient
lubricants with very good tribological proprieties.

Nowadaysthebiodegradableoilsrepresentaningeniousachievementinlubricationengineering
fortheequipmentsandmachinesworkingpreponderantlyinconditionshavinghazardousofthe

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environmentalpollution.Thisfactreferstomachinesandequipmentsforagriculture,building
industry,shippingindustry,forestry,printingindustry,railwaysandcarindustries.

Generally, as base oils for biodegradable lubricants it may be used: polyglicols, synthetic ester
oils and vegetal oils.

The consumption of bio lubricants in Europe, as percentage of the whole consumption of

bio lubricants is presented in table 1.
Germany

Scandinavia

Year
Benelux

Austria
France

Italy
UK

2000 4.0 0.1 0.2 2.9 9.0 1.3 5.7

2006 15.1 0.3 0.4 4.9 10.8 2.0 8.4

Table1.ConsumptionofbiolubricantsinEurope

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 2.ACOMPARISONOFBIOBASEDLUBRICANTS

The performances of biodegradable oils are comparable, in some cases, even better than those
of mineral oils used for the same application (Table 2)

Biodegradable oils have a great viscosity index (~200), a very good lubricity and a good
protection against wear, low volatility, they are very compatible with many additives and
mineral oils. They are complete biodegradable, their eco-toxicity is very low and the resources
are redeemable yearly.

Properties MineralOils Glycols VegetableOils SyntheticEsters

Density@20oC(kg/m3) 880 1100 940 930

ViscosityIndex 100 100200 100200 120220

ShearStability Good Good Good Good

PourPoint,oC 15 40+20 20+10 6020

ColdFlowBehavior Good VeryGood Poor Verygood

MiscibilitywithMineralOils Notmiscible Good Good

SolubilityinWater Notmiscible Verygoodpoor NotMiscible Notmiscible

SealSwellingTendency Slight Shrinking Slight Moderate

BehaviorAgainstPaint Good Poor Good Good

Biodegradability(CEC)% 1030 1090 70100 10..100

OxidationStability Good Good Moderate Good

HydrolyticStability Good Poor Moderate

SludgeFormingTendency Good Poor Moderate

RelativeCost(MineralOil=) 1 24 23 420

Table2.PropertiesofBiodegradableandMineralOils

Figure 1 presents the price of the vegetal oils as compared to that for mineral and
synthetic oils, respectively.

Fig.1.Costofvariousbaseoilsin2004

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 3. VEGETAL OILS

The sources for the base oil include sunflower, safflower, flax, cotton, corn, olive, peanut and
other common oils.The olive and peanut oils, although rich in oleic acid, will not be used as
biodiesel or grease, being preferred especially in the human nutrition.

The most important vegetal oil used for biodiesel or as lubricant is the rapeseed oil extracted
from the seeds of the current varieties of "zero" and "0-0", containing 59-61% oleic acid.

The most important sources for the natural esters are the rapeseed, sunflower and soybean oils.
The current compositions of various vegetal oils processed in Europe are shown in Fig. 2.

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 Fig.2.Compositionofvegetaloils,asusedinEurope

The best vegetal oil seems to be the high oleic sunflower oil (HOSO) with a very high content
of the oleic acid (greater than 90%). The rape and sunflower oil standard quality needs a
chemical modification of the polyunsaturated fat in order to become adequate lubricants.

The future accept of the vegetal oils as lubricants on the market depends, among others, on the
possibility to use an additivation that reduces or removes the undesired great reactivity of these
lubricants due to their structural labile elements.

4. LUBRICANTSBIODEGRADABILITY
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Until the nineteenth century, the most important substances used in lubricantsmanufacturing
were the vegetable oils and the animal fats. These were compatible to the environment and
biodegradable. Materials, such as water, vegetal oils and animal fats were successfully used for
the lubrication. Since 2500 b.C., the Egyptians discovered that the vegetal oil had beenreducing
the friction if it was applied under the sledges runners transporting the heavy stones forthe
pyramid building. Even in the Greek-Roman period, there were used the vegetal oils for the
friction reduction. In the southern European countries, there were used poppy and olive oils
while in the northern regions it was used the rape oil for the same purposes.

The biodegradation is the process by which a product (vegetal oil, mineral oil etc.) is
transformed in terms of microbiological degradation (biological agents) in environmental
acceptable products, such as water, CO2 and biomass (Fig. 3).

Fig.3.Thelifecycleofbiobasedlubricants

The biological decomposition of the biodegradable lubricants is made with oxygen (Fig. 4a) and
without oxygen (Fig. 4b).

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The symptoms of the degradation of the vegetal oils are: the increased viscosity, the increased free
acidity of the oil, the appearance of the oxidized fatty acids with the changes in the taste and the
formation of new chemical substances.

The natural esters, for example, are extracted from the rapeseed, the soybean, the sunflower etc. by
a pressing or an extraction with organic solvents and they consist mostly of triglycerides.

The vegetal oils are attractive because they are easily biodegradable and find applications in
tribosystems with technologically accepted loss of oil, such as saws and chain transmissions in
the wood industry, the agriculture, the food industry etc.

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The synthetic esters are reaction products of very different alcohols and acids of carbons, the
raw material for their manufacture provided from the petrochemicals. It can be synthesized a
theoretically large range of esters.

Some of them have an excellent oxidation stability, but at the same time, a faster
biodegradability. In addition, the hydrolytic stability can be largely controlled. Unfortunately,
these substances have a disadvantage that users take into account - the higher price as compared
to that of the esters derived from the vegetal resources.

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The poliglycols are polyesters with two or more hydroxyl groups. It is not recommended the use
of polyglycols in open systems because they have a high solubility in water. Their importance on
lubricants market is small because the price is several times higher than that of the
corresponding mineral oils.

But these fluids have a basic set of properties often superior to those offered by the mineral oils,
such as the excellent oxidation stability, the corrosion protection, the high viscosity index and the
good behaviour under a boundary lubrication regime. Besides the high price, another obstacle to
extend the use of the polyglycols is their incompatibility with the mineral oils, which may
involve a re-design of the entire lubrication system, which is often avoided by the professionals.

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 5.CONCLUSIONS

Lately, the biodegradable oils are of particular interest from the point of view of environmental
protection. The characteristics of the biodegradable oils are comparable in some cases and even
better than those of the mineral oils used for the same applications.

Ingeneral,asbaseoilsforthebiodegradablelubricants,itmaybeused:thepolyglycols,the
syntheticesteroilsandthevegetaloils.

Themostimportantsourcesforthenaturalestersaretherapeseed,sunflowerandsoybeanoils.

Researchesshowsthattheoilswithahighcontentoftheoleicacid(higholeic)areconsiderably
morestablethanthosewithalowcontentoftheoleicacid.

Fromthispointofview,itwasfoundthatthehigholeicsunfloweroil(HOSO)containingoleic
acid90%wouldbethebestvegetaloil.Besidesthehigholeicsunfloweroil(HOSO),research
isalsodoneontherapeseedoil(HORO),thesoybeans(HOSBO)andsunflower(HOSFO)high
oleicoils.

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 6.REFERENCES

1. Goyan R.L., Melley R.E., Wissner P.A, Ong W.C.O., 1998, Biodegradable Lubricants,
Lubrication Engineering, vol. 54(7), pp.10-17.

2. Murr T., 1998, Bentigen wir ,,Bio -le in allen Bereichen der Schmierstoffanwendung und
werden sie darber hinaus unseren technischen Anforderungen gerecht?, 11th International
Colloquim Industrial and Automotive Lubricants, 13-15 January, Technische Akademie
Esslingen, vol. I, pp. 201-269.

3.Busch C., Backe W., 1994, Biologisch scnell abbaubare Hidraulikflussigkeiten, Tribologie
und Schmierungstechnik, 41 Jahrgang, nr.1, pp. 17-22.

4.tefnescu I. I., Calomir C., Dima S., Spnu C., Deleanu L., Geana C., Garleanu E., 2004,
The oxidation resistance of sunflower oil used as possible lubricant in industrial tribosystems,
The Annals of Dunrea de jos University of Galai, Fascicle VIII Tribologie, pp.121-126.

5.Calomir C., tefnescu I., olea L., Chiri G., 2008, The vegetal oils as lubrication
materials, The Annals of Dunrea de jos University of Galati, Fascicle VIII Tribologie, pp.
154-160.

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