Potential of palm oil with tert-Butylhydroquinone in place of mineral oil lubricant for reducing environmental degradation

Abstract

Lubrication has remained an important aspect of machines maintenance and designs since time immemorial, yet the quest for improved lubricant for sustainable life of both equipment and environment continues to intensify. Many lubricants that is, research for a lubricant that is capable of providing maintenance of sustainable equipment without compromise to the environment is on the rise have been formulated and a lot of discoveries have been found in approaches toward enhanced and sustainable lubricants performance. Addition of foreign materials in nano quantity to fortify base oil properties for special purposes has also received greater attention in recent years. While this approach has yielded amazing results, concerns bordering on non-biodegradability of the mineral oils and safety of their additives to the environment equally continue to grow. This has escalated research interest in vegetable oils and their derivatives such as palm oil and other seed oils as a substitute toward limiting the consequences of improper disposal and eventual natural habitat degradation. A new approach to this quest is the adoption of palm oil (in Super Olein IV64 grade) with 150–450particles per million of tert-Butylhydroquinone for comparison with tribological behavior of mineral oil (Shell Helix SAE40W10) within the temperatures of 40°C to 100°C using linear reciprocating tribometer Winducom ASTM G133 test rig. The results showed tremendous similarity in coefficient of friction values between 0.1 and 0.12 of Super Olein with 150 particles per million and 300 particles per million of tert-Butylhydroquinone correlating closely with that of Shell Helix SAE40W10 at 80°C and 100°C, respectively. Wear track on the 20mm square plate was observed on the low-resolution microscope while wear scar diameter of the 6 mm SKD11 ball was observed on the high-resolution microscope. The results obtained at a temperature of 100°C in Super Olein IV64 + 150 particles per million tert-Butylhydroquinone and Super Olein IV64 + 300 particles per million tert-Butylhydroquinone is very similar to that of SAE40W10 except for Super Olein IV64 + 450 particles per million TBHQ whose coefficient of friction maintained a higher value of 0.3 at those temperatures.