Lubricant Polyol Derivatives from Epoxidized Vegetable Oils.

A. CAMPANELLA; E. RUSTOY; A. BALDESSARI; M.A. BALTANÁS

Orlando (EE.UU.), mayo 3-6.

Congreso; 100th Annual Meeting of the American Oil Chemists’ Society.; 2009

AOCS

This work reports laboratory results obtained from the production of polyols from epoxidized vegetable oils pertaining to annual, temperate climate crops (soybean, sunflower and high-oleic sunflower oils), focusing on their possible use as components of lubricant base stocks. To this end, two different ‘degradation’ (viz., opening of the oxirane ring) reactions of the epoxide ring were studied. The first one caused by the attack with glacial acetic acid, exclusively in a single organic phase, and the second one using short-chain aliphatic alcohols (methanol and ethanol) in acid media. Both reactions proceed under low synthesis temperature, with low reaction times and with conversions above 99%. Thermal (DSC) and rheological characterization techniques were used to characterize the oils, their epoxides and polyols, to assess the impact of the nature of the VO and the chemical modifications introduced, including long-term storage conditions.