Properties of Palm Pressed Fibre for Metal Forming Lubricant Applications

During the last few years, special attention has been paid to the protection of the environment from pollution caused by lubricants. Green lubricants are in demand for many industrial activities. Present work focuses on palm pressed fibre (PPF), which is the biomass waste generated during the production of palm oil. It has a great potential source of lubricant by producing the PPF oil by pyrolysis. As the availability of PPF is abundant and the PPF waste generates greenhouse gases, the present investigation aims at pyrolysis experiments and evaluating the yield and functional properties of the oil produced. Experimental studies on catalytic pyrolysis technology using a tubular reactor on PPF oil was performed at temperature of 450 °C, which gave oil product yields of 44.1 percent. Viscosity of the PPF oil as a function of temperature was measured at different temperatures ranging from 25 °C to 50 °C. The result showed that the viscosity of the oils decreases remarkably with increases in temperature. Finally, the PPF oil obtained from the pyrolysis process was tested as a lubricant and compared with palm olein (PO) in cold work drawing process. The findings revealed that PPF can perform as effectively as existing lubricants like PO in metal forming process.