Abstract
The use of trimethylolpropane triesters as biodegradable lubricant base oil substitute mineral oils could significantly reduce the environmental pollution. In the present work, a commercial oleic acid (72% C18) was utilized as a precursor for the manufacture of trimethylolpropane triesters (TMPTE) through a two-step transesterification process. Oleic acid methyl ester (OME) produced from the first step was subsequently interacted with trimethylolpropane (TMP) using sodium methylate to produce TMPTE. The effect of the operating parameters, temperatures (90 °C, 100 °C, 110 °C, 120 °C, and 130 °C), molar ratio of OME to TMP (3:1, 4:1, 5:1, and 7:1), vacuum pressure (20, 50, 100, and 200 mbar), and catalyst amount (0.5, 0.7, 0.9, and 1.1(w/w)) was investigated. Under the selected reaction conditions (temperature 120 °C, oleic acid methyl ester to trimethylolpropane molar ratio 4:1, catalyst amount 0.9%w/w, vacuum pressure 20 mbar and reaction time 2 h), the final product composition was approximately 85.47% TMPTE, 10.80% TMPDE, 1.40%TMP ME, and 2.33% OME. The kinetics/mathematical model explains the chemical kinetics of transesterification of oleic acid methyl esters (OME) with trimethylolpropane (TMP) to produce biolubricant which has been investigated at temperature 120 °C. To support forward reaction, the excess amount of OME was increased by 10:1 (OME/TMP). The kinetic model suggested for the transesterification process of OME with TMP in this work based on three reversible series-parallel reaction mechanisms. The kinetics equations were solved using LINGO PROGRAM. A harmony between the experimental data and theoretically estimated values was achieved.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Sharma RV, Dalai AK (2013) Synthesis of bio-lubricant from epoxy canola oil using sulfated Ti-SBA-15 catalyst. Appl Catal B142:604–614
Bart JCJ, Gucciardi E, Cavallaro S (2012) Biolubricants—science and technology. Woodhead Publishing, Cambridge
Dweck J, Sampaio MS (2004) Analysis of the thermal decomposition of commercial plant oils in air by simultaneous TG/DTA. J Therm Anal Calorimetry 75:385–391
Fox NJ, Tyrer B, Stachowiak GW (2004) Boundary lubrication performance of free fatty acids in sunflower oil. Tribol Lett 16:275–281
Salimon J, Salih N, Yousif E (2010c) Biolubricants: raw materials, chemical modifications and environmental benefits. Eur J Lipid Sci Technol 112:519–530
Salimon J, Salih N, Yousif E (2010) Improvement of pour point and oxidative stability of synthetic ester base stocks for biolubricant applications. Arab J Chem 5:193–200
Warner K, Knowlton S (1997) Frying quality and oxidative stability of high oleic corn oils. J Am Oil Chem Soc 74:1313–1320
Heikal EK, Elmelawy MS, Khalil SA, Elbasuny NM (2017) Manufacturing of environment friendly biolubricants from vegetable oils. Egypt J Pet 26:53–59
Aziz NAM, Yunus R, Rashid U, Syam AM (2014) Application of response surface methodology (RSM) for optimizing the palm-based pentaerythritol ester synthesis. Ind Crop Prod 62:305–312
Stachowiak GW, Batchelor AW (2005) Lubricants and their composition, in: engineering tribology. Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, Amsterdam, pp 51–101
Yunus R, Fakhru’l-Razi A, OoiT L, Omar R, Idris A (2005) Synthesis of palm oil based trimethylolpropane esters with improved pour points. Ind Eng Chem Res 44:8178–8183
Rudnick LR (2006) Automotives gear lubricants, synthetics, mineral oil and bio-based lubricants: Chemistry and Technology. Taylor and Francis, Florida, pp 425–440
Wang E, Ma X, Tang S, Yan R, Wang Y, Riley WW, Reaney MJT (2014) Synthesis and oxidative stability of trimethylolpropane fatty acid triester as a biolubricant base oil from waste cooking oil. Biomass Bioenergy 66:371–378
Chang T-S, Masood H, Yunus R, Rashid U, Choong TSY, Biak DRA (2012) Activity of calcium methoxide catalyst for synthesis of high oleic palm oil based trimethylolpropane triesters as lubricant base stock Ind. Eng Chem Res 51:5438–5442
Li RJ, Chen L, Yan ZC (2012) Synthesis of trimethylolpropane esters of oleic acid using a multi-SO3H-functionalized ionic liquid as an efficient catalyst. J Am Oil Chem Soc 89:705–711
Kiriliauskaite V, Bendikiene V, Juodka B (2011) Synthesis of trimethylolpropane esters of oleic acid by lipoprime 50T J. Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 38:1561–1566
Hamidah AH, Robiah Y, Umer R, Thomas SYC, Salmiaton A, Azhari MS (2018) Synthesis study of high oleic palm oil-based trimethylolpropane triesters: response surface methodology based optimization. Chiang Mai J Sci 45:984–996
Hamid AH, Yunus R, Choong TSY (2010) Utilization of MATLAB to simulate kinetics of transesterification of palm oil-based methyl esters with trimethylolpropane for biodegradable synthetic lubricant synthesis. Chem Prod Process Model 5:1–17
Yunus R, Ahmadun FR, Ooi TL, Awang DRB, Iyuke SE (2004) Kinetics of transesterification of palm-based methyl esters with trimethylolpropane. J Am Oil Chem Soc 81:497–503
Kamil RNM, Yusup S (2010) Modelling of reaction kinetics for transesterification of palm-based methyl esters with trimethylolpropane. Bioresour Technol 101:5877–5884
LINDO Systems Inc.1415 N (2011) Software Program Lingo version 13.0.2.17, Dayton St. Chicago, Illinois 60642, 312: 988–7422
Yunus R, Lye OT, Fakhru’l-Razi A, Basri S (2002) A simple capillary column GC method for analysis of palm oil-based polyol esters. J Am Oil Chem Soc 79:1075–1080
American Society for Testing and Materials: (1995) Annual books of ASTM standards: petroleum products, lubricants and fossil fuels, Vol. 5:1, Sect. 5. American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia
Minodora L, Luminiţa T, Marin M, Teodora S (2010) Optimization of biodiesel production by transesterification of vegetable oils using lipases. Rom Biotechnol Lett 15:1–13
Ramadhas AS, Jayaraj S, Muraleedharan C (2005) Biodiesel production from high FFA rubber seed oil. Fuel 84:335–340
Yunus R, Fakhrul-Razi A, Ooi TL, Iyuk SE, Idris A (2003) Development of optimum synthesis method for transesterification of palm oil methyl esters and trimethylolpropane to environmentally acceptable palm oil-based lubricant. J Oil Palm Res 15:35–41
Surapoj K., Suchada B., Chawalit N. (2013)Effects of transesterification conditions on synthesis of trimethylolpropane esters. Pure and applied chemistry international conference 1–4
Siti ZS, Luqman AC, Fakhru AI-R (2007) Batch production of trimetylolpropane ester from palm oil. J Appl Sci 15:2002–2005
Tariq M, Ali S, Ahmad F, Ahmad M, Zafar M, Khalid N, Khan MA (2011) Identification, FT-IR, NMR (1H and 13C) and GC/MS studies of fatty acid methyl esters in biodiesel from rocket seed oil. Fuel Process Technol 92:336–341
Barbara S (2004) Analytical techniques in science. Infrared spectroscopy; fundamentals and application, 1st edn. Wiley, NewYork
Pavia DL, Lampman GM, Kriz GS (2009) Introduction to spectroscopy, 4th edn. Thomson Learning, Inc., United States
Merrit W, Settle D (1986) Instrumental methods of analysis, vol Chapter 20. CBS publishers & distributors, Delhi, pp 605–661
Smallman RE, Bishop RJ (1999) Modern physical metallurgy and materials engineering, chapter 5. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Elmelawy, M.S., El-Meligy, A., Mawgoud, H.A. et al. Synthesis and kinetics study of trimethylolpropane fatty acid triester from oleic acid methyl ester as potential biolubricant. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 13, 1645–1657 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-01220-z
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-01220-z