Comparative Performance Assessment of Vegetable Oils as Suitable Lubricants under Extreme Temperature and Pressure Conditions

Authors

  • Charles Onyinegbaliwene Amgbari * Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal Polytechnic Ekowe, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

https://doi.org/10.22105/jeee.v2i2.51

Abstract

The environmental pollution caused by mineral oil (petroleum-based) lubricants, coupled with the depletion of petroleum reserves, has encouraged the sourcing of more biodegradable and environmentally friendly lubricants. To this end, vegetable oils have been promoted as suitable replacements for these petroleum-based lubricants. It is chiefly because of their biodegradable nature and abundance in the environment. One major limitation in the use of vegetable oils as lubricants is their seemingly poor performance when exposed to extreme temperature and pressure scenarios. It is due to the fact that they undergo oxidation at high temperature operations, which causes an alteration of their physical and chemical nature. Upon this degradation, the released oxygen bond becomes harmful to metals as it sponsors oxidation on the metal's surface, which leads to structural weakness, evident in the near future as rust. This paper tested the high-temperature and high-pressure performance of vegetable oils using a four-ball tribometer according to ASTM D2783. The lubricants used for this comparative test were commercial hydraulic oil, RBD palm olein, Palm Fatty Acid Distillate (PFAD), jatropha oil, and commercial stamping oil. The end performance evaluation showed that jatropha oil, a vegetable-based oil, has a higher Coefficient of Friction (COF) in comparison to the other oils, which were mineral (petroleum-based) oils. The study also exposed that the wear scars on the metal surface when machined with the vegetable oil are lower than those when the mineral oils were used. Hence, the vegetable oils are very suitable for use as lubricants under extremely high temperature and pressure regimes.

Keywords:

Performance, Lubricants, Friction, Pollution

References

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Published

2025-06-22

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2025): Journal of Environmental Engineering and Energy

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Amgbari, C. O. . (2025). Comparative Performance Assessment of Vegetable Oils as Suitable Lubricants under Extreme Temperature and Pressure Conditions. Journal of Environmental Engineering and Energy, 2(2), 111-117. https://doi.org/10.22105/jeee.v2i2.51

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