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Oral
Presentation 5-04 Use of
Vegetable Oils as Base Fluids for Industrial Lubricants
Mark
Miller Terresolve
Technologies Ltd. 35585 Curtis Blvd. Eastlake,OH 44095 Telephone: (440) 951-8633; Fax: (440) 951-4341; Email:
memiller@terresolve.com,
www.terresolve.com
There
is growing interest in vegetable oil based lubricants and functional
fluids. Vegetable oils are renewable
and biodegradable so they can be formulated to make vegetable-based or
bio-based lubricants that are more environmentally sensitive than similar
conventional petroleum-based products.
Using an environmentally friendly product can save an equipment operator
a substantial amount of money in terms of oil spill related clean up, fines and
down time.
This
presentation is about the formulation and use of vegetable oils in industrial
lubricants and how developers of new crops and seekers of new uses can best
interact with companies that develop and market specialty fluids. Topics will include a review of the current
state of the art of vegetable oil formulations, their strengths and weaknesses,
and the differences between various vegetable oil types. Formulating with vegetable oils will be explored, with emphasis on
lubricant characteristics, what formulators need to know about base oils to
begin their work, especially in terms of preliminary testing and compatibility
with chemical additives. By providing
formulators with the required oil properties in the terms they understand,
their interest can be maintained and development time reduced. The major driving forces for bio-based lubricants will be
discussed. What is the state of current
and pending legislation and what other factors make people buy vegetable-based
lubricants? While there is no universal definition of environmental
preferability, many of the currently used definitions will be explained. A brief overview of market opportunities will be explored including
current bio-based oil purchasers, their needs and necessary performance
specifications that must be met. Finally, a formulator’s wish list will be outlined. This list is developed with the lubricant
formulator in mind with the intention of guiding new crop developers to develop
crops with the highest probability of commercial success.
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