Comparative evaluation of lubricant properties of jatropha and jojoba methyl ester

Abstract

AbstractIt is well known that lubricating oils can reduce the coefficient of friction between two contacting surfaces. Owing to their poor biodegradability and toxicity, petroleum lubricants are typically deemed unacceptably harmful to the environment. These oils have a significant negative impact on both human and plant life and contaminate air, soil, and drinking water. Consequently, the public’s concerns about a pollution-free environment are growing along with the demand for ecologically friendly lubricants. Because of their superior lubricity, biodegradability, viscosity-temperature properties, and low volatility, plant oils hold promise as basis fluids for lubricants. In the current work, jatropha and jojoba oil were converted into bio-lubricants by chemical modification processes such as transesterification and epoxidation using H2SO4 and HCl catalysts. The kinematic viscosity of jatropha ester increases by 12.93 and 123.22%, and that of jojoba ester increases by 15.91 and 104.24% at 32 and 90 °C, respectively, when the concentration of the catalyst is increased from 0.3 to 0.9 ml for H2SO4 catalyst. Similarly, for the HCl catalyst, the kinematic viscosity values of jatropha are increased by 5.43 and 30.25%, and for jojoba, 20.84 and 50.96% at 32 and 90 °C, respectively. The epoxidized jatropha had greater experimental flash and fire point values than the epoxidized jojoba. The anti-wear and friction-reduction qualities were tested using an Anton Paar TRB3 ball on a disk. In comparing the 0.9 ml concentration of jatropha bio-lubricant samples to the 0.3 ml concentrations, the percentage reduction in wear was 31.68% for epoxidized jatropha—HCl catalyst, and 33.95% for epoxidized jatropha—H2SO4 catalyst.

Keywords

• Lubricants
• transesterification
• epoxidation
• kinematic viscosity
• flash and fire points
• ball on disk tribometer