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Preparation of Epoxidized Fatty Acid Ethyl Ester from Tung Oil as a Bio-lubricant Base-Stock

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Abstract

Preparation of epoxidized tung oil ethyl ester (ETOEE) was explored in this work via a two-step approach to produce bio-lubricant with enhanced thermal-oxidative stability. Transesterification of tung oil with ethanol was first carried out with KOH as the catalyst at 60 °C and a molar ratio of tung oil to ethanol of 1:20 for 2 h. The obtained tung oil ethyl ester (TOEE) was subjected to epoxidation in the presence of hydrogen peroxide and formic acid (FA). The highest conversion (93.6%, based on reduction of iodine value) was achieved by reacting 10 g of TOEE with 14.5 g of hydrogen peroxide and 5.86 g of FA at 50 °C for 3 h. Under these conditions, the resulting ETOEE has an oxirane number or epoxy value of 5.1%, and the presence of epoxy groups was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analysis. The resulting ETOEE was further analyzed of its thermal stability under both oxidative and non-oxidative atmospheres. The viscosity index was determined and improvements in both thermal stability and lubricity were observed with the aid of a modular compact rheometer and a thermos-gravimetric analyzer, respectively. The ETOEE produced may be suitable for use as lubricating oil in gear boxes and engines.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Applied Science and Technology, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Keelung Road, Taipei, 10607, Taiwan

    Yi-Hsu Ju & Alchris Woo Go

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Keelung Road, Taipei, 10607, Taiwan

    Novia Nur Fitriana Sari, Meng-Jiy Wang, Ramelito C. Agapay & Aning Ayucitra

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of San Carlos-Talamban Campus, Nasipit Talamban, Cebu City, 6000, Philippines

    Alchris Woo Go & Ramelito C. Agapay

  4. Department of Chemical Engineering, Widya Mandala Surabaya Catholic University, Kalijudan 37, Surabaya, 60114, Indonesia

    Aning Ayucitra

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  1. Yi-Hsu Ju
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Ju, YH., Sari, N.N.F., Go, A.W. et al. Preparation of Epoxidized Fatty Acid Ethyl Ester from Tung Oil as a Bio-lubricant Base-Stock. Waste Biomass Valor 11, 4145–4155 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-019-00749-z

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