Synthesis of lubricating base oil from rice bran oil

Abstract

Rice bran oil, which has a triglyceride structure, was changed to a monoesterstructure by a tranesterification reaction with an alcohol such as 1-butanol,I-hexanol, 1-octanol, 2-ethyl-1-hexanol and 4-methyl-2-pentanol. This reaction wascarried out the boiling point of mixture, for 2, 3 and 4 hours. This reaction usedconcentrated sulfuric acid as a catalyst. 2-Ethyl-1-hexyl ester was the monoester,which had good physical and chemical properties due to a high viscosity index, goodoxidation stability and a low pour point. With these properties, it could be used aslubricating base oil. Furthermore, when the small amount of 2-ethyl-1-hexyl ester wasblended with petroleum base oil (150 SN), the viscosity index of the blended oil wasincreased when compared with petroleum base oil. This result showed that it couldalso be used as viscosity index improver in lubricating industry.