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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Sustainable Biofuels and Co-products Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #308851

Title: Biobased industrial lubricants and biopreferred program

Author
item Erhan, Sevim
item SHARMA, BRAJENDRA - University Of Illinois

Submitted to: Euro Fed Lipid Congress
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/20/2013
Publication Date: 10/27/2013
Citation: Erhan, S.Z., Sharma, B.K. 2013. Biobased industrial lubricants and biopreferred program. [abstract]. Euro Fed Lipid Congress. p. 87.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Global chemical industry growth is projected at 3 to 6 percent per year through 2025, while the biobased chemicals market share is expected to grow from 2 to 22 percent and biobased polymers are expected to increase from 0.1 to 10-20 percent market share. Finding a renewable replacement for petroleum derived materials is currently being considered top priority research in the fuel and energy sector. The overall demand for industrial and automotive lubricants in the USA is expected to show 4 percent cumulative increase over the next decade, while the demand for bio-based lubricants is expected to increase from a share of 0.3 percent in 1997 to 1.2 percent by 2017. Vegetable oils have the capability to contribute towards the goal of energy independence and security due to their naturally renewable resource. Vegetable oils are promising candidates as base fluid for eco-friendly lubricants because of their excellent lubricity, biodegradability, better viscosity-temperature characteristics and low evaporation loss. Their use, however, is restricted due to low thermo-oxidative stability and poor cold flow behavior. This paper presents a systematic approach to improve the oxidation and cold flow behavior of vegetable oil derivatives by chemical modifications and the study of antioxidant/antiwear additive synergism in vegetable oil. In addition, BioPreferred Program, the purpose of the labeling program and their role in sales and use of biobased products in the commercial and consumer sectors in the USA will be addressed.