PRODUCTION OF BIOLUBRICANT FROM ALLAMANDA SEED OIL USING BASE METAKAOLIN

Abstract

ABSTRACT The use homogeneous catalysts, conventional grown edible oils makes the overall cost of biolubricant production high, and so cheap, readily locally materials are required. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of base activated metakolin in the production of biolubricant from Allamanda. The Allamanda oil was extracted and analyzed for their chemical and physical properties such as density, acid value, % FFA, saponification value as well as viscosities at 40 and 100 ℃ and viscosity index. The catalyst (metakaolin) was prepared by beneficiation, calcination at 650 °C for 90 minutes, which was further activated with potassium hydroxide hydrothermally at 90 oC for 3 hours. The obtained catalytic material was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Brunauer Emmet Teller (BET) techniques. The catalyst shows a high surface area and pore size of 706.906 m2/g and 2.118 nm. The method employed for the production of biolubricant involved two stages transesterification process, the first stage produced methyl ester of the oil which was optimized using Box-Behnken design module of response surface methodology (RSM) available in “ Design Expert® Software” in which methanol to oil ratio was 1:5 and was kept constant. Other variables such as temperature, time and catalyst concentration were varied. The optimum conditions that gave the highest yield of 90.67 % were: 52.5 ℃ , 180 minutes and 0.5 wt%. The produced biodiesel was characterized. In the second stage; the methyl ester was transesterified with trimethyolpropane to produce the biolubricant. Major lubricating properties of the product such as pour point, viscosities at 40 ℃ and at 100 ℃, and the viscosity index were analyzed and found to have value of -12.5 ℃ , 64.0 cSt, 28.0 cSt and 371.59 respectively. The properties of the biolubricant produced was found to be comparable to the ISO VG-68 commercial standards for light and industrial gear applications and other plant based biolubricant.