Palm Fatty Acid as a New Renewable Source for Industrial Lubricant

Abstract

The sources of petroleum are being reduced from day to day and petroleum is a major source of environmental pollution. Many researchers are trying to find other alternatives, namely renewable and green energy sources to substitute the petroleum in every sector. One of the best alternative sources for petroleum is bio oils. In this paper, a comparative study of friction and wear was carried out using four balls tester. Palm Fatty Acid distillate (PFAD) and additive free paraffinic mineral oil were used as lubricants. PFAD is a product from refined crude palm oil. It exists in light brown solid at room temperature. For the wear test, the research was done with two kinds of oils under ASTM condition in which applied load is 392N. The sliding speed was 1200rpm under lubricant temperature of 75 degree Celsius. The experiment was r un for 3600 seconds. The experimental results demonstrated that the PFAD exhibited better performance in terms of friction and wear compared to paraffinic mineral oil.