Biobased lubricants

Low resistance to oxidative degradation (Asadauskas et al., 1996, 1997, 2000) and poor low-temperature behavior (Erhan Asadauskas, 2000 Hagemann Roth-fus, 1988 Rhee, 1996) remain the major impediments to using soybean oil as a base stock in biobased lubricants. Soybean oil is the most widely available and least expen-... 

Adhvaryu, A. G. Biresaw B.K. Sharma S.Z. Erhan. Friction behavior of some seed oils Biobased lubricant applications. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2006a, 45, 3735-3740. 

According to a Frost and Sullivan study [20], the 2006 European market for biolubricants was 122000 tons (2.6% of the total lubricant use) with a growth rate of 6.6% per annum from 2006 to 2013. This means a biobased lubricant market volume of 190000 tonnes in Europe in 2013, where Germany and Scandinavia are the top markets with the Benelux countries set to show a significant growth in... 

Modern biobased lubricants are mainly based on rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, and animal fats. These oils easily undergo oxidation due to their content of polyunsaturated fatty acids such as linoleic acid and linolenic acid. Efforts have been made to modify the oils to provide a more stable material and a product more competitive in performance to mineral oil-based lubricants. This modification can involve partial hydrogenation of oil and a shifting of its fatty acids to high oleic acid content [21]. Other reported changes that address the problem of unsaturation include alkylation, acylation, hydroformylation, hydrogenation, oligomerization (polymerization), and epoxidation [20, 22]. 

Modern biobased lubricants and greases are biodegradable and nontoxic and therefore especially suitable for environmentally sensitive applications such as agriculture and forestry or any operations at or close to water bodies and in protected areas. 

The predominant application for biobased lubricants is in hydraulic oils, especially for mobile hydraulic systems, which consume about half the amount of bio oil. Construction machines are the largest application segment within the mobile hydraulic market with about 60% of the sales volume. The second largest segment is agro-machines with 15% of the total sales volume [23]. 

Although the market share of biobased lubricants and hydrauUc fluids is steadily increasing, these products are more expensive than their conventional equivalents, due to relatively high raw material prices and a not yet fiflly optimized economy of scale. 

Experiments were carried out using soybean oil, canola oil, refined com oil, refined cottonseed oil, refined sunflower oil, refined palm oil, and refined coconut oil obtained from commercial sources. Biobased lubricant oils used in this study are given in table 14.1. 

Biobased Lubricant Oils Used in This Study... 

Thermal Oxidation Temperatures and Carbon Deposit Amounts of Biobased Lubricant Oils... 

Phuong T. Vicary, R. Graiver, D. Narayan, R. Enhanced Thermal-Oxidative Stability of Biobased Lubricants , unpublished Narayan, R. Kunstoff 1989, 79,1022-1028. 

The chemical and lubricant markets represent an enormous opportunity for biobased products, but many obstacles must be overcome on the way to commercialization. To gain acceptance and supplant products made from petroleum, industrial bioproducts will need to be able to compete in terms of both cost and performance advances in biotechnology will play a key role in surmounting these economic and technical barriers. Given the size of the potential markets and the considerable research under way, the future looks bright for a biobased economy. 

S. Z. Erhan and J.M Perez, eds.. Biobased Industrial Fluids and Lubricants, AOCS Press, Champaign, Illinois, 2002, pp. 1. 

Natural soybean oil is too viscous and reactive to atmospheric oxygen to be used in many biobased product applications. These limitations must be overcome for soybean oil to be used in fuels, cosmetics, and lubricants, but on the other hand, soybean oil is not sufficiently reactive to be used in most paints and coatings. Important end-use categories for which economic data exist include fatty acids, paints and varnishes, resins and plastics, drying-oil products, and other industrial products. Coating vehicles (paints and varnishes) and epoxidized oils (resins and plastics) comprise 50% of... 

To expand commercialization of soybean-oil-based lubricants, one of three factors must occur to eliminate cost as a deterrent (i) the increased cost of the product must provide increased performance (ii) the cost of competing petroleum products must increase significantly or (iii) the use of the biobased product must provide the best way to meet required local, state, or federal regulations. Of these three factors, the first, improving the properties of soybean oil, is the most desirable scenario. Improve the low-temperature properties of soybean oil by blending with diluents, such as poly-alphaolefins, diisodecyl adipate, and oleates (Asadauskas Erhan, 1999 Erhan et al., 2006) improve oxidative stability by adding commercially available antioxidants (Becker Knorr, 1996 Erhan et al., 2006 Sharma et al., 2007b). 

Asadauskas, S.J. J.M. Perez. Utilization of vegetable oils in metalworking fluids. Biobased Industrial Fluids and Lubricants S.Z. Erhan, J.M. Perez, Eds. AOCS Press Champaign, IL, 2002 pp. 59-64. 

NeuzU, D.I. L.A.T. Honary. Power Pods Soy-based lubricants grease the way for a biobased future. Resource 2003, 10, 9—10. 

The foUowtng sections present short summaries on results for the product groups of packaging, building products, and lubricants, the latter being a large market for biobased products since several years as well. 

Currently, markets for bioproducts are wide-ranging, including polymers, lubricants, solvents, adhesives, herbicides, and pharmaceuticals and their production volume is estimated at several inQUon tons per year. Total production in these markets is in the hundreds of millions of tons therefore, the growth opportunities for biobased products are enormous - so the market analysis in Chapter 8. While bioproducts have already penetrated most of these markets to some extent, new products and technologies are emerging with the potential to further enhance performance, cost-competitiveness, and market share, so the optimistic outlook. 

If a fatty acid soap/surfactant is chosen for the biobased grease thickener, there are three components to consider, as shown in fig. 15.2 the hydrophobe, the hydrophile, and the metal cation. The hydrophobe has to make the surfactant compatible with the lubrication fluid. Low-temperature properties are also controlled to a large extent by... 

Erhan, S. Z., and Perez, J. M. eds. 2002. Biobased Industrial Fluids and Lubricants. Champaign, IL AOCS Press. 

Biobased industrial products Plant-derived chemicals, fuels, lubricants, adhesives, plastics—any and all industrial products derived from biomass that are not used for human food or animal feed. For purposes of this article, biomass is bioprocessed into biobased industrial products. 

Biresaw G. 2004. Biobased dry-film metalworking lubricants. J Synth Lubr 21 43-57. 

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