Abstract
Lubricants are substances of the foremost importance in the modern world, as they are essential to the proper functioning of various mechanisms. Most lubricants, however, are still made from petroleum fractions. I light of this, and due to various environmental problems, the search for feasible biolubricants has become essential. This study obtained biolubricants through the in situ transesterification of microbial biomass, containing at least 20 wt% of lipids. The following two distinct biomasses were evaluated: the marine microalgae, Dunaliella salina, and the consortium of microalgae-fungi, Scenedesmus obliquus and Mucor circinelloides. Microbial oil from both biomasses presented a fatty acid profile with high amounts of oleic acid. The oil of D. salina had a lower content of polyunsaturated fatty acids relative to the microbial consortium profile, which indicates that this is a good configuration for increasing biolubricant oxidation resistance. The catalyst used was a Keggin-structure heteropolyacid supported on niobium, H3PMo12O40/Nb2O5, activated at 150 °C, which had high transesterification yields, notwithstanding the feedstocks, which were rich in free fatty acids. The performed transesterification reactions resulted in excellent yields, up to 97.58% and 96.80%, for marine microalgae and the consortium, respectively, after 6 h at 250 °C, with 10 wt% of catalyst (related to the lipid amount). As such, the (H3PMo12O40/Nb2O5) catalyst could become an attractive option for producing biolubricants from microbial biomass.
Highlights
Lubricants are described as substances that are put on machines, or parts of machines, for the purpose of alleviating friction
Considering previous studies, the present study aimed to evaluate the microalgae oil from Dunaliella salina and the oil of a microalgae-fungi consortium composed by Scenedesmus obliquus and Mucor circinelloides as feedstock for biolubricant synthesis, using the following as acyl receptors: fusel oil components and simulated fusel oil
URM 4182 was obtained at Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil, and freshwater microalgae Scenedesmus obliquus CCMA-UFSCar 604—was purchased from the Federal
Summary
Lubricants are described as substances that are put on machines, or parts of machines, for the purpose of alleviating friction. A concerning problem, is that most lubricants in popular use are still made from petroleum fractions. When such products are inappropriately discarded, they cause huge environmental problems, with soil, water, and air contamination. In light of these issues, biolubricants could be an attractive alternative, as they have high biodegradability, low toxicity, and can be made of various renewable sources [1,2,4]
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