Lubricants, surfactant applications industrial oils

More than two-thirds of the naphthenic acids produced is used to make metal salts, with the largest volume being used for copper naphthenate consumed in the wood preservative industry. Oil field uses are primarily imidazolines for surfactant and corrosion inhibition. See also Petroleum. Besides the lubrication market for metals salts, the miscellaneous market is comprised of free acids used in concrete additives, motor oil lubricants, and asphalt-paving applications. See also Lubricant and Lubricating Agents. 

Span surfactants are lipophilic and are generally soluble or dispersible in oil, forming water in oil emulsions. They are used for their excellent emulsification properties in personal care, industrial cleaning, fibre finish, crop protection, water treatment, paints and coatings, lubricant and other industrial applications. 

The Chemithon Corporation has patented a novel venture reactor.34,35 The organic to be sul-fonated is injected into a stream of gas containing S03 at a venture. The reaction mixture is quenched and recycled downstream until sulfonation is complete. The reactor design can be used for highly viscous, high molecular weight specialty surfactants for industrial applications such as lubrication oil additives. 

Functions as a co-emulsifier for silicone in cleaner polishes and mold release agents, and as an all purpose oil and fat emulsifier in industrial lubricants. For textile applications, this biodegradable, oil-soluble, water-dispersible ether is used as an emulsifier for mineral oil in lubricants such as coning oils. When sulfated, it forms a high-foaming anionic surfactant. 

Many applications of surfactants in lubricants and fuels have a common purpose, namely to reduce or prevent the formation of deposits by the degradation products of lubricants and fuels. In lubricant applications, surfactants serve in various roles. In crankcase oils, surfactants reduce and prevent sludge formation and deposit formation in pistons, cylinders, and valve train systems [1]. They also reduce and prevent sludge formation in the reservoirs of transmission fluids, gear oils, and industrial oils, and keep parts clean by prevention of deposit formation on metal parts. In addition, they provide friction control in friction interfaces as in automatic transmissions. 

Industrially, silicone surfactants are used in a variety of processes including foam, textile, concrete and thermoplastic production, and applications include use as foam stabilisers, defoamers, emulsifiers, dispersants, wetters, adhesives, lubricants and release agents [1]. The ability of silicone surfactants to also function in organic media creates a unique niche for their use, such as in polyurethane foam manufacture and as additives to paints and oil-based formulations, whilst the ability to lower surface tension in aqueous solutions provides useful superwetting properties. The low biological risk associated with these compounds has also led to their use in cosmetics and personal care products [2]. 

Vegetable oils represent only 5% of the renewable resources available. Today, vegetable oils currently provide a marginal carbon feedstock contribution to the chemical industry in such applications as solvents, surfactants, and lubricants. Vegetable oils may, however, play a much more important role in the future. They are mixtures of fatty acid trigclycerides whose typical molecular structures are given in Figure 10.12. 

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. 

Oils and fats have been important throughout human history not only for food, but also as lubricants, polishes, ointments, and fuel. The reaction of oils and fats with alkali (saponification) produces soap (salts of fatty acids) and glycerin. This chemical process was known to the Romans and continues to be of significant commercial importance. Today, tens of thousands of tons of soap are produced annually from tallow and plant oils. Tallow is a by-product of the meat industry, while the principal plant oils are dependent on extensive plantations—palm and palm kernel oils from Indonesia, Malaysia, and India, and coconut oil from the Philippines and Brazil. Twentieth-century chemists designed more effective synthetic, crude-oil-based surface-active agents (surfactants, e.g., sodium linearalkylbenzene-sulfonate or LAS) for fabric, household, and industrial cleaning applications, and specialty surfactants to meet the needs of consumer products industry such as milder skin and hair cleansers. 

---