Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
(0.4% annual growth), while there will be a decent demand in other regions,
such as the Asia-Pacific (2.7%), South America (2.4%), and Africa and the
Middle East (1.4%). The global lubricant market was worth US$44.0 billion
and the value of global lubricants will grow even faster than the volume,
rising at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 5.5% from 2012 to 2018
and expected to reach US$65.2 billion in 2018. This will be caused by the
estimated increase in the price of lubricants from US$960 per MT in 2005, to
US$1330 per MT by 2015.
The USA has remained the leader with just under 22% of the global
market, but lubricant volume demand in the USA is declining and is ex-
pected to grow merely 0.4% per year, a reversal of the declining production
from 2006 to 2009. The USA's production of paranic and naphthenic base
oils has been on an increasing trend from 55million barrels to 60.2million
barrels in 2010, and 62.0million barrels in 2011, but overall production is
still lower than the 2006 level (66.8million barrels).
3
In automotive lubri-
cants (47%), multigrade engine oils constituted 38% of total USA lubricant
sales in 2011 followed by automotive transmission and hydraulic fluids (6%),
while in industrial lubricants (50%), process oils have the largest share
(23%) followed by general industrial oils (14%), industrial engine oils (7%),
and metalworking oils (6%). The remaining 2% of total lubricant sales is
grease. Currently, only 5-10% of lubricants are made using non-conventional
basestocks, including polyalphaolefins synthetic esters, rerefined oils,
naphthenic oils, white oils, vegetable oils and animal fats. Clearly, there is
room in this market for the expansion of bio-based lubricants.
Although many vegetable oils have excellent lubricity, they often have poor
oxidation stability due to a high degree of multiple unsaturations in the fatty
acid (FA) chains of vegetable oils. This poor thermal and oxidative stability
confines their use as lubricants to a modest range of temperatures. Several
reports in the literature
4-6
claim the use of vegetable oils such as rapeseed oil
and sunflower oil as substitutes for petroleum-based lubricating oils and
synthetic esters. Attempts have been made to improve the oxidative stability
by transesterification of trimethylolpropane and rapeseed oil methyl ester
7
and by selective hydrogenation of the polyunsaturated bonds of the FA
chains.
8
Reports have discussed the use of epoxidized unsaturated FAs as
metalworking fluids
9
and epoxy oils as lubricating additives to eliminate
corrosion from chlorine-containing compounds.
10
Esters of dicarboxylic
acids with branching have been used as lubricants and hydraulic fluids over
a wide range of temperatures.
11,12
Moringa oleifera (referred to as moringa in this study), a member of the
Moringaceae family is a multipurpose plant native to sub-Himalayan regions
of Northwest India, Africa, Arabia, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Caribbean
islands, and South America. It has also been distributed in many other re-
gions such as the Philippines, Cambodia, and Central and North America.
13
The fully matured, dried seeds of this plant are round or triangular shaped,
and the kernel is surrounded by a lightly wooded shell with three thin
flexible wings.
14,15
Moringa seeds contain between 33 and 41% (w/w)
