Synthesis of Biolubricant From Vegetable Oils

Synthesis of Biolubricant From Vegetable Oils

Chapter One

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

 The aim will be realized through the following objectives:

1. To produce the biolubricant
2. To determine the physico-chemical properties of the synthesized biolubricant and compare with ISO VG
3. To study the fatty acid composition of the synthesized biolubricant produced and infrared spectrum of the trimethylolpropane (TMP) used for the polyol ester
4. To investigate the effect of temperature on viscosity of the synthesized biolubricant blend with mineral base

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter discus on lubricant and lubricating properties. It also talks about biolubricant synthesis methods and source of raw material sources. Some of the biolubricant properties are viscosity and viscosity index, pour and flash point, fatty acid compositions etc.

 LUBRICANT

Lubricant is a substance introduced to reduce friction between moving surfaces. It may also have the function of  transporting  foreign  particles.  The  property  of  reducing  friction  is  known  as lubricity (Jeffrey, 2007).

A good lubricant possesses the following characteristics:

1. High boiling point
2. Low freezing point
3. High viscosity index
4. Thermal stability
5. Corrosion prevention
6. High resistance tooxidation.

One of the single largest applications for lubricants, in the form of motor oil, is protecting        the internal combustion engines in motor vehicles and powered equipment.

Typically lubricants contain 90% base oil (most often petroleum fractions, called mineral oils) and   less   than   10% additives. Vegetable   oils or   synthetic   liquids    such    as   hydrogenated polyolefins, esters, silicones, fluorocarbons and many others are sometimes used as base oils. Additives deliver reduced friction and wear, increased viscosity, improved viscosity index, resistance to corrosion and oxidation, aging or contamination, etc.

Lubricants  such  as 2-cycle   oil are   added   to fuels like   gasoline   which   has   low   lubricity. Sulfur impurities in fuels also provide some lubrication properties, which have to be taken in account when switching to a low-sulfur diesel; biodiesel is a popular diesel fuel additive providing additional lubricity (Jeffrey, 2007).

Purpose

Lubricants perform the following key functions.

1. Keep moving parts apart
2. Reduce friction
3. Transfer heat
4. Carry away contaminants &debris
5. Protect against wear
6. Prevent corrosion

Keep moving parts apart

Lubricants are typically used to separate moving parts in a system. This has the benefit of reducing friction and surface fatigue, together with reduced heat generation, operating noise and vibrations. Lubricants achieve this by several ways. The most common is by forming a physical barrier i.e., a thin layer of lubricant separates the moving parts. This is analogous to hydro- planning, the loss of friction observed when a car tire is separated from the road surface by moving through standing water. This is termed hydrodynamic lubrication. In cases of high surface pressures or temperatures, the fluid film is much thinner and some of the forces are transmitted between the surfaces through the lubricant (Jeffrey, 2007).

Reduce friction

Typically the lubricant-to-surface friction is much less than surface-to-surface friction in a system without any lubrication. Thus use of a lubricant reduces the overall system friction. Reduced friction has the benefit of reducing heat generation and reduced formation of wear particles as well as improved efficiency. Lubricants may contain additives known as friction modifiers that chemically bind to metal surfaces to reduce surface friction even when there is insufficient bulk lubricant present for hydrodynamic lubrication, e.g. protecting the valve train in a car engine at start up (Jeffrey, 2007).

Transfer heat

Liquid lubricants are much more effective on account of their high specific heat capacity. Typically the liquid lubricant is constantly circulated to and fro from the cooler part of the system, although lubricants may be used to warm as well as to cool when regulate temperature is required. This circulating flow also determines the amount of heat that would be carried away in any given unit of time. High flow systems can carried away a lot of heat and have the additional benefit of reducing the thermal stress on the lubricant. Thus lower cost liquid lubricants may be used. Their disadvantage was the larger sumps and bigger cooling units needed. Another disadvantage is that a high flow system that relies on the flow rate to protect the lubricant from thermal stress is susceptible to catastrophic failure during sudden system shut downs. An automotive oil-cooled turbocharger is a typical example. Turbochargers get red hot during operation and the oil that is cooling them only survives as its residence time in the system is very short i.e. high flow rate. If the system shut down suddenly the oil in the turbo charger will immediately oxidizes and clog the oil ways with deposits. Over time these deposits can completely block the oil ways and reduced the cooling which result to failure of the turbo charger with seized bearings. Non-flowing lubricants such as greases and pastes are not effective at heat transfer although they do contribute by reducing the generation of heat in the first place (Jeffrey, 2007).

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CHAPTER THREE

MATERIALS AND METHOD

Details of research procedures employed are discussed in this chapter. The materials and equipment used are first listed.

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

Different types of material and equipment were used to carry out the experimental work of this research are listed as follows:

 List of Materials

1. Anhydrous methanol (Haddiz Chemical Ltd, 85%w/v)
2. Sodium hydroxide (Haddiz Chemical Ltd, analyticalgrade)
3. Potassium hydroxide (Haddiz Chemical Ltd, analyticalgrade)
4. Sodium methoxide (Chemical Engineering Department, ABU Zaria, 30% w/w in methanol)
5. Tetraoxosulphate (IV) acid (Haddiz Chemical Ltd, 95%w/v)
6. Hydrochloric acid (Haddiz Chemical Ltd, 95%w/v)
7. Trimethylolpropane (TMP) (Hefei TNJ Chemical Industry Co.,Ltd China, 99.5% w/w)
8. Isopropyl alcohol (Haddiz Chemical Ltd, 95%w/v)
9. Phenolphthalein (Haddiz ChemicalLtd)
10. Calcium Oxide (NARICT Basawa Zaria, 99.5%w/w)

CHAPTER FOUR

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents all the results generated from the investigations and discussion. These includes; free fatty acid contents, physico-chemical property determination for both raw, synthesized and blended lubricants, temperature effect on viscosity, FTIR spectrum and GC-MS analysis.

 

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

CONCLUSION

The following conclusions were drawn from the investigation carried out.

1. Jatropha and Cotton seed oil lubricant blend have the least change on viscosities when the temperature was increase from 30 to100⁰
2. The synthesized biolubricant of Jatropha, Moringa and Cotton seed have higher viscosity index compared to the mineral oil used.
3. The synthesized biolubricant blend conform with ISO viscosity grade 32 and 46 for gear oil and other low temperature
4. Increases in pour points were also observed when the synthesized biolubricant were blend with mineral oil(SN500).
5. Jatropha and Castor vegetable oils consist mainly of palmitic, linoleic, ricinoleic, oleic and stearic acids while their synthesized biolubricant produced consisted principally of ricinoleic and linoleic triesters with a percentage area of 36.42 and 33.01% respectively. The two oils were analyzed for GC-MS due to their high lubricant properties observed after characterization.

 RECOMMENDATIONS

The following recommendations are suggested for further research:

1. Additives especially pour point depressants and viscosity improvers should be incorporated in the synthesized biolubricant blend in other to improve the low temperature properties and high temperature
2. Further research should be done by blending two or more vegetable oils together with mineral oil. This may enhance some of these lubricating

CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE

1. This research developed a novel method for the synthesis of biolubricant from vegetable oils that involved the use of heterogeneous catalyst (CaO) with about 95-100% conversion of raw oil to methyl esters compared to the previous works that uses homogeneous catalyst (NaOH) with about 45-60%
2. An improved pour point was observed when the synthesized biolubricant produced were blended with mineral oil(SN500).

REFERENCES

• Abitogun, A. S.,Omosheyin, A. C., Oloye, D. A., and O. J. Alademehin, O.J.,(2009).Extraction and Characterization of Sunflower Crude Oil.Internet Journal of Nutrition  and  Wellness. (8): 2-8.
• Adam, I., (2009). Biobased Lubricants: A Viability Study: Tribology and Lubrication Technology. pp. 1-10.
• Anonymous^(A): http://www.benzeneinternational.com/baseoil.html, Retrieved on, 20/12/2013. Asadauskas,  S.,  and  Erhan,  S.Z.  (1999).  Depression  of  Pour  Points  of  Vegetable  Oils  by
• Blending         with     Diluents Used for Biodegradable Lubricants, .Journal of  American
• oil Chemists Society, (73): 313-316.
• Ashley, M., (2007). Two ways to Measure Oil Viscosity: Practicing Oil Analysis. Banerji, R., (1985). Jatropha Seed Oil for Energy: Biomass Technology, (8): 277-282.
• Bilal, S., Mohammed-Dabo, I. A., Nuhu, M., Kasim, S. A., Almustapha, I. H. and Yamusa, Y. A. (2013). Production of Biolubricant from Jatropha Curcas Seed Oil:Academic Journal of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, 4(6): 72-79.
• Bello, E.I and Anjorin, S.A. (2012). Fatty acid Composition of Six Nigerian Vegetable oils and their Methyl esters.Research Journal in Engineering and Applied Sciences,1(3): 166-170.
• Belafi, B.N., Dormo, K., Bartha, L., Ehrenstein, U., Gubicza, L., (2004), Manufacture of an environmental-safe biolubricant from fusel oil by enzymatic esterification in solvent-free system Biochemical Engineering Journal, 2(1): 229–234.
• Chinchkar, D.S., Satpute, S.T., and Kumbhar, N.R. (2012). Castor Oil as Green Lubricant.
• International Journal of Engineering Research and Technology, 1 (5): 1-3.
• Eckey. E.W. (1954) “Vegetable fats and oils” Reinhold publishing corporation, New York, U.S.A.

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