Biolubricant Characterization. What Is Important to Consider Our Product a Good Biolubricant? How Do We Measure It?

This chapter will deal about the assessment of the main properties of a biolubricant. There are plenty of characteristics that a certain biolubricant should comply with to compete with petroleum-based lubricants. In that sense, the role of viscosity or oxidation stability, among others, will be important for their suitability of use. Once the main chemical routes to produce and purify biolubricants have been explained in previous chapters, it is necessary to assess their main physical and chemical properties, which will determine their final usage. As you can imagine, every product that you purchase as a consumer (from potato chips to a van, for instance) has to comply with strict standards to be commercialized, so that these products can be safe or have minimum quality standards. Regarding biolubricants, they are no exception and some properties such as viscosity or oxidative stability (which should be familiar to you at this point) are perfectly analyzed to check if they are suitable for lubricating purposes. Thus, every aspect of these products should be covered, from ecotoxicity to skin irritability or viscosity index. Even though we found these standards strict or confusing sometimes, there is always a good reason to establish a lower or upper limit. For instance, viscosity is essential to carry out a good lubricating effect depending on the kind of surfaces in contact, temperature, etc. Also, viscosity in biodiesel (one of the intermediate products during double transesterification to produce biolubricants) is important in diesel engines, as it is essential to inject the fuel properly in the combustion chamber.