Lubricant polyol derivatives from chemically modified vegetable oils. DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2009.08.035

ALEJANDRINA CAMPANELLA; EDUARDO M. RUSTOY; ALICIA BALDESSARI; MIGUEL A. BALTANÁS

BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY

Elsevier

Año: 2009

0960-8524

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 opening 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 mild conditions: low synthesis temperature and short reaction times and with conversions above 99%. Spectroscopic (NMR), thermal (DSC) and rheological techniques were used to characterize the oils, their epoxides and polyols, to assess the impact of the nature of the vegetable oil and the chemical modifications introduced, including long-term storage conditions.