Grigor Bantchev |
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Grigor B. Bantchev, Ph.D.
Phone: (309) 681-6239
Room 3201
USDA ARS NCAUR
Bio-Oils Research
1815 N University St.
Peoria IL 61604
♦ Research Physical Scientist with a PhD in physical chemistry
♦ Enable novel and cost-competitive biobased products with unique structures for applications in multiple industrial sectors
Thioether functionalized vegetable oils (TF VO)
Lubricants with improved cold flow, antioxidants, heavy-metal ion removing agents
Biobased phosphonates
♦ Investigate functional properties of novel biobased structures for lubrication, remediation, surfactant/detergent, polymers and other applications; apply structure-property models to optimize the chemical structures for multi-functional application
Research on Bio-Based Lubricants
Synthesized TF Vegetable Oils and biobased phosphonates as base oil lubricants and lubricant additives
Tested physical and lubrication properties:
o Anti-wear and anti-friction
o Extreme pressure
o Pour and Cloud Points
o Viscosity and Viscosity Index
o Lubricating film thickness; Pressure-viscosity index
o Oxidative Stability - PDSC
Structure-Property relationship
Rotating pressurized vessel oxidation time (RPVOT) of Thioether-functionalized vegetable oils (TF VO) is improved significantly, compared to the starting vegetable oils
A biobased phosphonate, at 5% addition, was more effective antiwear additive than the commercial ZDDP.
Improved Structure-Property Relationship (SPR):
⊗ Successfully correlated the dynamic viscosity (in mPa∙s) of estolide esters as a function of the absolute temperature (T) and the number-average molecular weight (Mn):
⊗ ln(η) =(5.49x10^(-4) Mn-2.07)+(1018 ln(Mn)-787)exp(394/T)/T
⊗ The relationship describes the viscosities of estolides as a function of temperature better than literature SPRs (figure on the left)
⊗ Bantchev & Cermak 2022 Fuel 309:122190
BIO:
Grigor Bantchev is a chemist and physical scientist. He received his Master of Science (1993) from University of Sofia (Bulgaria) and his PhD (2003) from Tulane University. He did postdoctoral work at Louisiana State University and Louisiana Tech University until he joined the NCAUR in 2007, where he works in the Bio-Oils research group. His research is mostly focused on the production of biobased lubricants from agricultural biomass and the testing of these lubricants as renewable, biodegradable replacements for petroleum-based materials. He synthesized several biobased phosphonates and thioethers as potential lubricants or lubricant additives. The biobased thioethers also showed good potential for heavy-metal removal from contaminated water.
Click to Access my publications.