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High-performance and promising biolubricants from agro-waste cashew nut shell liquid

Tianjiao Li, Jing Ma, Guangwen Li, Xiaowei Chen

Industrial Lubrication and Tribology

ISSN: 0036-8792

Article publication date: 15 January 2025

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to replace petroleum-based lubricating oils with sustainable biomaterials, addressing issues associated with existing alternatives, such as poor performance, high cost and limited availability.

Design/methodology/approach

The transformation of agricultural waste cardanol, a nonedible vegetable oil that is abundantly available, into green cardanyl acetate (CA) biolubricating ester oil. The potential of CA as a base stock for lubricants is validated by assessing its lubrication performance.

Findings

CA exhibited a higher viscosity index, flash point and thermal stability than commercially available mineral-based (CTL3, coal-to-liquid) and synthetic (PAO2, poly-alpha-olefin) lubricant base stocks. Moreover, CA exhibits excellent anticorrosivity properties as well as PAO2 and CTL3. The tribological properties of CA were evaluated, and the results show that CA exhibits a smaller average wear scar diameter (WSD) of 0.54 mm than that of PAO2 (0.85 mm) and CTL3 (0.90 mm). In extreme pressure tests, acylated CA demonstrated the highest last nonseizure load capacity at 510 N, outperforming commercial CTL3 (491 N) and PAO2 (412 N). All results demonstrate that CA displays an excellent series of base stock properties.

Originality/value

The novelty of this work lies in the utilization of renewable agricultural waste, cashew nut shell liquid, to produce a high-value biolubricant as an alternative to commercial fossil-based lubricants. The renewable nature, low cost, and large-scale availability of raw materials pave a new path for the production and application of biolubricants, showcasing the immense potential of converting agricultural waste into high-value products.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-03-2024-0064/

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Funding: The work was financially supported by Sinopec Research Institute of Petroleum Processing Co, Ltd of China (KL123007).

Statement: The authors confirm that this study does not involve any human or animal participants.

Citation

Li, T., Ma, J., Li, G. and Chen, X. (2025), "High-performance and promising biolubricants from agro-waste cashew nut shell liquid", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILT-03-2024-0064

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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