FRICTION AND LUBRICATION CHARACTERISTICS OF BIO-LUBRICANT PRODUCED FROM AGROWASTE

Abstract

The increase in ecological concerns has inspire research into renewable raw materials resources in lubricant industry. There is growing consumption of different lubricant types, which are mostly mineral based and that are toxic and not readily biodegradable. Palm kernel oil waste (PKO) generated from palm oil mill, which is usually considered as bio- mass waste was fully utilized as a renewable source for the production of lubricants, in an attempt to convert these waste into lubricants. The purpose of this work is to utilize palm kernel oil (PKO) for the production of bio-lubricants as base oil and blending with additive using cold blinding method. Using the ring compression test at room temperature (250C) and at 1000C of the PKO plus additives and comparing with SAE Extreme Pressure Lubricant (EPL), it shows that PKO with 30% additives exhibits better lubrication capabilities than (EPL). With further refinement in additive blending PKO would prove to be a suitable bio- lubricant in metal forming process such as deep drawing, severe plastic deformation process and other light work forming process.