Chemical modification of Tilapia oil for biolubricant applications

Nowadays, around 40% of the lubricant market is dominated by petroleum-derived products, resulting in a negative impact on environment. Herein, it was aimed to develop a biodegradable lubricant-grade ester using Tilapia oil as primary feedstock. The synthetic route was carried out in three steps: (1) transesterification, (2) epoxidation and (3) ring-opening reaction with different long chain alcohols, where the final esters were characterised regarding their physicochemical properties. The lubricant-grade esters showed superior biodegradability and viscosity index (>117) compared to commercial petroleum-based oils. The ester synthesized with 2-ethyl hexanol showed highest thermal stability (Tonset = 230 °C) compared to other long chain alcohols. Therefore, as mainly proposed, this study shows that esters from Tilapia oil have a great potential to obtain lubricants with high biodegradability and better physicochemical properties.