Lubricants biodiesel applications

The use of methanol offers the best results in the trans-esterification of oils and fats. Compared with other alcohols, methanol requires shorter reaction times and smaller catalyst amounts and alcohol/oil molar ratios [10,12,15,16,51,52]. These advantages lead to reduced consumption of steam, heat, water, and electricity, and use of smaller processing equipment to produce the same amount of biodiesel. Biodiesel applications continue to expand. Thus, in addition to its use as fuel, biodiesel has been employed in the synthesis of resins, polymers, emulsifiers, and lubricants [53-64]. Concerning the range of applications, new biodiesel production processes should be considered as alternatives to the production based on methanol. Currently, methanol is primarily produced from fossil matter. Due to its high toxicity, methanol may cause cancer and blindness in humans, if they are overexposed to it. Methanol traces are not desired in food and other products for human consumption [15]. In contrast, ethanol emerges as an excellent alternative to methanol as it is mainly produced from biomass, is easily metabolized by humans, and generates stable fatty acid esters. Additionally, fatty acid ester production with ethanol requires shorter reaction times and smaller amounts of alcohol and catalyst compared to the other alcohols, except methanol, used in transesterification processes [11,15,16]. 

These fatty acids and oils, as well as their derivatives, are applied in a broad range of products such as surfactants, lubricants and coatings, and, obviously, biodiesel. Upon epoxidation of the double bonds of the unsaturated fatty acids, very important compounds for the polymer industry are produced, which are used as plasticizers and stabilizers for a broad range of polymers such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyesters, and polyurethanes [71]. Another interesting application has been found in the conversion of epoxidized soybean oil to carbonated soybean oil that can be reacted with ethylene diamine to obtain a polyurethane with interesting properties [72], Traditionally, stoichiometric reagents are used for the epoxidation of these oils and fats, albeit in some cases, with limited results. Therefore, the MTO/H2O2 system has been explored to epoxidize unsaturated fatty acids and oils. 

Plant oils are excellent sources of some valuable compounds such as unsaturated fatty acids, phytosterols, squalene, pigments, antioxidants, vitamins, waxes, glycolipids, and lipoproteins. Plant oils could be employed for technological uses as biodiesel, lubricants, surfactants, emulsifiers, biopolymers, and so on. Vegetable oils also can serve as appropriate sources for the production of valuable compounds having applications in food, pharmaceutical, medical, and environmental fields. Attention has been focused on various types of value-added fatty acids (polyunsaturated fatty acids, conjugated fatty... 

Many useful lipid oils are extracted from a variety of plant seeds including rapeseed, soybeans, sunflowers, and com. In addition to their food uses, these oils are used in a large variety of applications including raw materials for making other chemical products, lubricants, and as biodiesel fuels. Part of the usefulness of lipid oils in many applications is due to their similarity to petroleum hydrocarbons. Volatile solvents, most commonly the 6-carbon straight-chain alkane n-hexane, CgHj4, are used to extract oils from plant sources. In this process, the solvents are distilled off from the extract and recirculated through the process. 

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