Biobased oxidation protection additives for lubricating fluids

This project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the 'New products for the bioeconomy' program. The project is being undertaken in collaboration with Carl Bechem GmbH. Up until now mineral oils have dominated the lubricant industry, even though they are harmful for the environment. About 50% of all lubricants end up in the environment causing pollution of the soil, air, and drinking water. The aim of the project is to develop a biological alternative to conventional lubricants based on plant oils such as rapeseed oil and sunflower oil.

Secondary plant substances (SPSs) increase the oxidative capacity

As plant oils are particularly sensitive to oxidation, additives are required to increase the stability to oxidation. For this project these additives must be biological in nature. These additives are being recovered from various residues from the agriculture and food industries. The secondary plant substances (SPSs) in the residues are the particular focus here. In the plants these substances provide protection against environmental and natural influences such as predators, microbial infection, and UV radiation. Special attention in this project is being put on polyphenols, which are particularly well known for their antioxidative effect. This functionality will be utilized to protect the plants oils against oxidative stress and to obtain a stable product.

Antioxidative Substances from waste materials from the food and agricultural industries

This research project is looking at ways of utilizing hitherto little used or unused waste materials from the food and agricultural industries. Initially, SPSs will be extracted from waste streams and investigated for their antioxidative properties and their total polyphenol content. The last step of this project will involve incorporating the best extracts into ester oils and performing analyses.

Currently biological base media are used for lubricants but not additives recovered from purely biogenic waste materials. The Bio-Schmierstoffadditiv project aims to combine biological lubricants with protective bio-additives, so opening up completely new applications. This work may provide stimulus for still further increase in the use of biological lubricants.

The Fraunhofer IVV is coordinating the project and is responsible for the manufacture and characterization of plant extracts in the first work package. Another key task is the manufacture and characterization of the first prototype lubricants to study the antioxidative effect in the target application.