Fig. 15: Fatty acid profile of PKBLE
Conclusion
The production of biolubricant from PKO using transesterification PKME
using TMP and epoxidation-esterification processes was achieved
successfully. However, the PKBLE sample, produced by
transesterification of PKBLT using TMP, showed conformed
better to the stipulated standard, when compared to the
PKBLE sample obtained by the epoxidation-esterification
method. That notwithstanding, both samples have shown potential for
utilization as ecofriendly bio-lubricant. The presence of the C – H, OH
functional groups identified by the FTIR results, is an indication that
they would enhance the biodegradability of the produced bio-lubricants
samples. The effects of time, temperature and mole ratio significantly
affected the transesterification reaction with TMP; while time,
temperature and molar ratio of H2O2significantly influenced the epoxidation reaction. Therefore, chemical
modifications of PKO for bio-lubricant production using the
aforementioned methods were useful in successful development of
ecofriendly PKO bio-lubricant samples.