Synthesis of a Potential Biodegradable Lubricant from Castor Biodiesel Esters via Enzymatic Catalysis

摘要

Base oils, the main constituents of lubricants, are produced, in general, from petroleum processing. They can be classified as minerals or synthetics, depending on their source or production process [1]. Lubricant's world market is about 35 million tones per year [2] and biolubricants represent approximately 1% of this total [3]. But, while mineral lubricant's market is stagnated, biolubricant's market is growing at nearly 10% per year [4]. The Brazilian biolubricant's market is still incipient, nearly 250 tones per year. When compared to most mineral base stocks (mainly API group I), biolubricants show the following advantages: lower toxicity, biodegradability, better lubricity, production from renewable sources, higher solvency power to additives, higher flash point, lower volatility and higher viscosity index (VI). However, there are some limitations such as oxidative and hydrolytic instability and poor low temperature properties [5]. Brazil is the third largest producer of castor beans [6]. Castor oil has nearly 90% of ricinoleic acid, which differentiates it from all the other vegetable oils in terms of viscosity properties. Soybean and jatropha were also chosen due to their fatty acid profile, which could produce biolubricants with different properties.