Industrial oils have been irresponsibly utilized in recent years. Accidental spillage or inappropriate disposals of lubricants are serious dangers to the environment. The good news is many companies deal with this issue by making various eco-friendly lubricants. Continue reading to learn more about these.
How Lubricants Affect the Environment
One of the top pollutants is lubricants. Non-environmentally friendly lubricants, such as those from crude oil, hurt the environment. That’s because they contaminate the air, groundwater, and soil. They enter plant tissues which put marine and terrestrial living things in danger.
Also, they can cause illnesses in humans, such as diseases to the nervous and respiratory systems, cancer, and allergies.
Different Eco-Friendly Lubricants
You likely understand how important it is to use eco-friendly lubricants. But you need to remember that not all base oils, such as petroleum, are good for the environment. Here are some of the environmentally friendly base oils you can consider using:
Synthetic Esters
These are the most common options for the base of biodegradable oils. These are collected from organic or inorganic acid that causes a reaction with alcohol. Synthetic esters are eco-friendly since they are highly biodegradable and non-toxic.
These are great for different oil thicknesses because they have a low pour point, high thermal stability, low volatility, and high viscosity index. They are perfect for applications with high and low temperatures. They are considered good for oil changes and as a lube for your car.
Polyalkylene Glycols
Polyalkylene glycols come from the reaction when ethylene and propylene oxides come in contact with water or alcohol. Aside from being very clean, they have good shear stability, a low pour point, and high viscosity index.
Products derived from this lubricant are called compressor lubes. These are used in different industries such as hydraulic machinery and metalworking. For metal-to-metal applicants, they provide amazing lubrication and are perfect for temperatures that range from -40°C to 200°C.
However, these are expensive and incompatible with other lubricants which are the reason why it’s not commonly used.
Vegetable Lubricants
One of the most effective alternatives to mineral-based lubricants is vegetable oils. They’re from raw plants such as soybeans, canola, sunflower seeds, and turnip rape among many others.
These oils have excellent lubrication and properties such as anti-rust, high viscosity index, anti-wear, high flash points, and anti-oxidation. Since vegetable lubricants are purely natural, they offer a lot of benefits to the environment such as being non-toxic and biodegradable.
Bio-Based Lubricants
These are also known as bio-lubricants. From the name itself, this is an oil type that comes from bio-based raw materials such as vegetable oils, animal fats, and other environmentally friendly hydrocarbons.
Not only are these lubricants sustainable and renewable, but they also have great lubricating properties compared to mineral lubricants. For instance, they have excellent lubrication, good shear resistance, and a high viscosity index.
These can also be utilized in open and closed systems. Total-loss lubricants are the oils that are utilized in open systems since it leaves the system when in operation. These are often two-stroke oils utilized in metalworking and chainsaws among many others.
Sadly, because of the limitation in production, bio-based lubricants are rarely used.
Green Lubricants
In the past couple of years, green lubricants have been gaining fame. Its name may seem appealing, but it can be very misleading. That’s because not all marketed green products are not helpful for the environment. These products don’t normally have heavy metals and other harmful ingredients. But these don’t mean that they are biodegradable and from bio raw oils.
When choosing an eco-friendly lubricant, you have to make sure that they’re biodegradable and derived from bio-raw oils. This means that the lubricant you’re getting is good for the environment, degrades fast, and doesn’t leave poisonous substances,
Conclusion
Finally, you know some of the lubricants that are good for the environment. Lubrication of machines, equipment, and vehicles is very important in all industries. If these industries don’t use an environmentally friendly oil change for their equipment, it can be a serious threat to the earth. Inappropriate storage and spillage can contaminate land, water, soil, and living things including humans.
This is why it’s essential to choose eco-friendly lubricants. Not only are they biodegradable and bio-based, but they are also made to address pollution without affecting the performance of machines, equipment, and vehicles.