Abstract
As a developing country, South Africa is in a unique position with regard to establishing, maintaining and expanding infrastructure to ensure compliance with international trends with respect to environmental regulations, while at the same time establishing the means to provide access to affordable energy to all its citizens to share the potential of its resources. In many respects, tribology plays an important role in saving of energy as well as ensuring that requirements with regard to protecting the environment are complied with. Green tribology can rightly be regarded as an approach which is timely and which has an impact on many activities like electricity generation, production of synthetic fuels and lubricants, mining operations and protection of the environment and its resources. Focusing on the interface between Tribology and Biorefining, several interesting possibilities open up. With the constant rise in the price of oil, alternatives to crude oil as primary energy source and as basic feedstock for fuels and chemicals are becoming more and more attainable. In this chapter an overview is provided of the above, from a South African perspective. A number of case-study examples are given which indicate that a “green” approach in finding engineering solutions to tribological problems which could have a far-reaching impact on the environment. Three examples are used, namely how proper selection of tailor-made lubricants could decrease energy usage in gear-driven systems. The focus here is on the power industry, where coal-based power plants are the only economically feasible solution to the increasing demand for electricity in a developing economy with virtually no crude oil reserves. The success atttained in this endeavour should stimulate similar projects in the mining sector of the country. In the second instance, ingenious application of tribology with respect to application of specialised lubricants from a renewable source, namely plant oils, can decrease cost of lubrication and, in addition, can resolve difficult issues with regard to disposal of contaminated waste in metal cutting operations, indicating the value of a “green tribology approach”. Thirdly, combining the concept of biorefineries, tribology and the ability to synthesise products to suit specific requirements, including formulation of lubricants and fuels, can lead to substantially improved products, impacting in a positive way on the environment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
B. Kamm, P. Gruber, M. Kamm, Biorefineries—Industrial Processes and Products, Status Quo and Future Directions, vol. 1 (Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2006)
UNICA, Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association, “2008/2009 Harvest” (2009), http://english.unica.com.br/dadosCotacao/estatistica/, 01 Dec 2010
J. Martines-Filho, H.L. Burnquist, C.E.F. Vian, Bioenergy and the rise of sugarcane-based ethanol in Brazil. Choices 21(2), 91–96 (2006)
Carbon Recycling, The carbon cycle (2010), http://www.carbonrecycling.co.uk/ http://assets/images/carbon_cycle.jpg , 28 Nov 2010
R. Van Ree, B. Annevelink, Status Report Biorefinery 2007, Report for SenterNovem and the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (2007)
M. Marinova, E. Mateos-Espejel, N. Jemaa, J. Paris, Addressing the increased energy demand of a Kraft mill biorefinery: the hemicellulose extraction case. Chem. Eng Res. Des. 87, 1269–1275 (2009)
S. Consonni, R.E. Katofsky, E.D. Larson, A gasification-based biorefinery for the pulp and paper industry. Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 87, 1293–1317 (2009)
The world’s most advanced biorefinery, http://www.borregaard.com/eway/default.aspx, 15 Dec 2010
T. Werpy, G. Peterson (eds.), Top Value Added Chemicals From Biomass, Volume I: Results of Screening for Potential Candidates from Sugars and Synthesis Gas, Report prepared by members of NREL and PNNL (2004)
S.H. Lamlom, R.A. Savidge, A reassessment of carbon content in wood: variation within and between 41 North American species. Biomass Bioenergy 24(4), 381–388 (2003)
J.I. Zerbe, Liquid fuels from wood—ethanol, methanol and diesel. World Resour. Rev. 3(4), 406–414 (1991)
J.E. Holladay, J.J. Bozel, J.F. White, D. Johnson, Top Value Added Chemicals From Biomass, Volume II – Results of Screening for Potential Candidates from Biorefinery Lignin, Report prepared by members of NREL, PNNL and University of Tennessee (2007)
D. Bowles (ed.), Micro- and macro-algae: Utility for industrial applications, Outputs from the EPOBIO project (2007)
A. Demirbas, BiorefineriesBiorefineries: For Biomass Upgrading Facilities (Springer-Verlag London limited, 2010)
L.R. Lynd, H. von Blottnitz, B. Tait, J. de Boer, I.S. Pretorius, K. Rumbold, W.H. van ZyI, Converting plant biomass to fuels and commodity chemicals in South Africa: a third chapter? S. Afr. J. Sci. 99, 499–507 (2003)
Major Food And Agricultural Commodities And Producers; Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations http://www.fao.org/es/ess/top/commodity.html?lang=en&item=156&year=2005, 06 Dec 2010
R.M. Byrnes (ed.), South Africa: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, (1996), http://countrystudies.us/south-africa/67.htm, 06 Dec 2010
Working for Water: A South African Sustainability Case, http://www.unep.org/training/programmes, 04 Dec 2010
B.I. Kamara, J. Coetzee, Overview of high-temperature Fischer-Tropsch gasoline and diesel quality. Eng. Fuels 23, 2242–2247 (2009)
P.L. de Vaal, H. Guidi, Eskom Internal Research Report, A Test Method to Measure Heat Loss Through Friction Using the FZG Machine (2009)
H. Guidi, P.L. de Vaal, L.F. Barker, Lubricant performance comparison using frictional heat characteristics on a laboratory test rig; South African Chemical Engineering Conference (SACEC), Cape Town, 20–23 Sept. 2009
P.L. De Vaal, L.F. Barker, Quantifying friction-reducing properties of gear oils at constant temperature with a modified FZG test; Nordtrib 2010 Conference, Lulea, 8–11 June 2010
P.L. de Vaal, B.M. Meister, A constant temperature FZG test for open gear lubricants; Proceedings of the 3rd World Tribology Congress, Washington 12–15, Sept 2005
H. Guidi-Figueroa, P.L. de Vaal, The effect of operating temperature on open gear lubricant performance; Proceedings of the 9th SAIT International Tribology Conference, “Tribology 2008”, University of Pretoria Conference Centre; Pretoria, 2–4 April 2008, (ISBN: 978-0-620-38082-9)
DIN 51354, Testing of lubricants, Mechanical testing of gear oils in the FZG rig test machine (1970)
P.L. de Vaal, H. Guidi-Figueroa, L.F. Barker, Synthetic Lubricants do reduce friction–but what about their Environmental Impact? SAIT Seminar on Lubricants and the Environment, South African Institute of Tribology, 6 Oct 2009
F. Klocke, G. Eisenblätter, Dry Cutting. Annals of the CIRP 46(2), 519–526 (1997)
P. Jost, Green Tribology. A footprint where economics and environment meet, Address to the 4th World Tribology Congress, Kyoto (2009)
E. Du Plessis, Green Tribology. Environmentally friendly micro-dosing of lubricants in Aluminium metal-working operations–a case in point, SAIT International Symposium, Pretoria 2011
E.M. Trent, Metal Cutting (Butterworths, London, 1977)
N. Bay, A. Azushima, P. Groche, I. Ishibashi, M. Merklein, M. Morishita, T. Nakamura, S. Schmid, M. Yoshida, Environmentally benign tribo-systems for metal forming. CIRP Ann.–Manuf. Technol. 59, P771–P776 (2010)
R. Autret, S.Y. Liang, Minimum Quantity Lubrication in finish hard turning, Proceedings of the HNICEM International Conference, March 2003
T. Beno, M. Isaksson, L. Pejryd, Investigation of Minimal Quantity Cooling Lubrication in Turning of Inconel 718. ICTPM, Yokohama, pp. 281–286 (2007)
T. Beno, M. Isaksson, L. Pejryd, Investigation of Minimal Quantity Lubrication in Turning of Waspaloy. CIRP-LCE, Tokyo, pp. 196–202 (2007)
T. Beno, M. Isaksson, L. Pejryd, Machining of Greek Ascaloy with the use of Minimal Quantity cutting fluid, CIRP-LCE 2008, Sydney (2007, to be published)
T. Beno, M. Isaksson, L. Pejryd, Investigations of the effects of minimal quantity cutting fluid in turning of Titanium 6–4, 9th International Tribology Conference of the South African Institute of Tribology (2007)
S. Wang, A. Clarens, Modelling metalworking fluid penetration in the cutting zone to understand EAL, ASME/STLE International Joint Tribology Conference, Oct 2010
H.J. Joubert, High speed machining of aluminium alloys using Minimal Quantity Lubrication Methods, B Ind Eng Thesis, Stellenbosch University, Oct 2006
K. Mistry, A. Erdemir, W. Zhang, A. Malshe, Tribochemical interaction of Boron and MoS2 based nano-colloidal lubrication under severe tribological conditions, ASME/STLE International Joint Tribology Conference, Oct 2010
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
de Vaal, P. ., Barker, L.F., du Plessis, E., Crous, D. (2012). Biorefining: A Green Tribological Perspective. In: Nosonovsky, M., Bhushan, B. (eds) Green Tribology. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23681-5_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23681-5_20
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-23680-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-23681-5
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)