Search Results

To date, growth in the use of biobased lubricants in the United States has been relatively slow and inconsequential. This is contrary to industry speculations, that like in Europe, the U.S. consumer would see environmental mandates requiring the use of more biodegradable products. These expectations led to a temporary increase in activity by lubricant manufacturers to develop environmentally cognizant products during the early 1990's. Such activity began to taper off, however, as the likelihood of stricter environmental policies diminished and the higher costs of vegetable based products gave way to already narrow margins and the utilization of over-capacity in the industry. Either by chance or by deliberate duplication of the European farming community, U.S. growers have begun to play a more active role in applying their crops to new value added markets such as lubricants.

Despite the best preventative measures, ruptured hoses, spills and leaks do occur with the use of all hydraulic equipment. Although these releases do not usually produce an RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) regulated waste, they are often reportable events. Clean-up and subsequent administrative procedures involve additional costs, labor, and work delays. Concerns about these releases, especially when they involve Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico (SNL) vehicles hauling waste on public roads, prompted their Fleet Services Department (FS) to seek an alternative to conventional petroleum-based hydraulic fluids. Since 1996, SNL has participated in a pilot program, along with the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) Ag-Based Industrial Lubricants (ABIL) Research Program and selected vehicle manufacturers, to field test in twenty of its vehicles, hydraulic fluid produced from soybean oil.

This report is the result of market research and analysis conducted at the University of Northern Iowa and commissioned by the Iowa Soybean Promotion Board. The main purpose of the study was to assess the size and scope of the vegetable oil industrial lubricant market, to identify trends within the industry, and to determine potential future regulations that would have an impact on the demand for such lubricants. The results of the survey indicated that the need for vegetable-based lubricants is long-term. Also, there is a trend toward environmentally friendly lubricants for special applications such as mining, forestry, marine, wetland construction, government fleets and agricultural industries.

The initial goal of this project was to investigate the potential uses of soybean oil as an industrial hydraulic fluid. Previous test results had indicated that the concern with vegetable oil was mainly with the lack of inherent oxidative stability. In general all of the vegetable oils that had been tested, had performed well in terms of wear protection in ASTM D-2281 (100-hour) tests. The project activities included analysis of several vegetable oils in ASTM D-2271 (1000-hour) wear tests, using the 104-C Vickers vane pump. The longer test period was selected to observe changes in the viscosity [as a measure of oxidative stability] of the test oils. The results indicated that the fatty acid profiles of vegetable oils play a significant role in their oxidative stability in industrial lubricant applications. The research results should help to identify the needed genetic modification of oil seeds to produce oils more suitable for industrial applications.