Formulation of green crankcase oil - A novel approach

An increasing demand for environmentally acceptable lubricant has led researchers to look to vegetable oils as an alternative to mineral based lubricants. These vegetable oil based products are sustainable, renewable and biodegradable that can replace petroleum derived products in numerous industrial applications such as stabilizers, plasticizers and in coating formulations. However vegetable oils are limited by their poor low temperature fluidity and poor thermo-oxidative stability. In order to produce rapeseed oil based bio-lubricant with good thermo-oxidative stability and low pour point, in the present work the base oil was chemically modified via, epoxidation and ring opening reaction followed by esterification process. The formation of the epoxidized group was confirmed by Fourier Transform Infrared spectral analysis. Epoxidized and hydroxylated rapeseed oil showed superior oxidative stability and friction reducing ability compared to base oil. Furthermore the epoxidation treatment has no adverse effect on the biodegradability of the base stock.