β-Pinene – acrylate copolymer as a potential biodegradable multifunctional additives for lube oil

ABSTRACT

Viscosity index improver (VII) and Pour point depressant (PPD) performances of the β-pinene based newly developed greener additives were tested in base oil in terms of viscosity index (VI) and pour point (PP), respectively. It is observed that, incorporation of β-pinene induces excellent biodegradability in the acrylate system. Among the two systems, β-pinene – dodecyl acrylate copolymers showed higher VI and pour point depression efficiency than the corresponding decyl acrylate copolymers. The study also indicated that VI and PP values of the additive doped base oils depend on the nature of mineral base oils as well as on the type and concentration of the additives. The synthesized copolymers of each of them with β-pinene (BP) were characterized by spectral, gel permeation chromatographic (GPC) and thermogravimetric analysis. For a comparison the respective homopolymers were also prepared under identical conditions and tested for VII and PPD properties in base oils by the standard ASTM methods. The biodegradability along with multifunctional additive performance showed potential for the copolymers for their industrial application as lube oil additives.

KEYWORDS:

• biodegradability
• pour point depressant
• rheological properties
• thermogravimetric analysis
• viscosity index improver

Acknowledgement

Authors are thankful to CSIR, New Delhi for financial support.