Síntese de biolubrificantes a partir de ésteres isoamílicos epoxidados como estratégia de melhoria de desempenho

Abstract

Lubricants are of paramount importance in all facets of modern industries. Most are of fossil or mineral origin, which makes the production chain of such materials harmful to the environment. These resources are finite and, although it may take time, they will eventually run out. In this context, biolubricants emerge as a viable alternative to traditional lubricants due to their biodegradability and the possibility of being produced from renewable sources. One possibility is the production of biolubricants from ester synthesized with castor oil. This involves first undergoing hydrolysis reactions of the castor oil, catalyzed by an enzyme Eversa Transform 2.0 to obtain free fatty acids from the oil, a process that had a conversion rate of 86%. This is followed by esterification reactions, also catalyzed by Eversa Transform 2.0, of these fatty acids with isoamyl alcohol, obtained from fusel oil, a byproduct of ethanol production, which had a conversion rate of 81%. Finally, epoxidation reactions of the formed ester were conducted as a strategy to improve its performance as a biolubricant. This epoxidation reaction yielded 14% of epoxidized ester. This work discusses the main challenges of biolubricant as well as ways to mitigate these challenges.