Petroleum is a finite source as well as causing several environmental problems. Therefore petroleum needs to be replaced by alternative and sustainable sources. Plant oils and oleochemicals derived from them represent such alternative sources; the use of oleochemicals as biobased lubricants is of significant interest. This article presents a series of chemical modification on oleic acid to yield synthetic biolubricant basestocks. Measuring of density, volatility, cloud point (CP), pour point (PP), flash point (FP), viscosity index (VI), onset temperature (OT) and signal maximum temperature (SMT) was carried out for each compound. Furthermore, the friction and wear properties were measured using high-frequency reciprocating rig (HFRR). The results showed that octadecyl 9-octadecyloxy-10-hydroxyoctadecanoate exhibited the most favorable low-temperature performance (CP %ndash;26°C, PP %ndash;28°C) and the lowest ball wear scan diameter (42 µm) while propyl 9-propyloxy-10-hydroxyoctadecanoate exhibited the higher oxidation stability (OT 156°C).
Microwave assisted hydrothermal treatment (MHTC) was compared with torrefaction in terms of carbonization efficiency and physicochemical characteristics of char products. The utilization of produced char was optimized for composite solid biofuel production. The results show that MHTC significantly improved the binding capability of the microwave hydrochar (MHC) particles during co-densification with unprocessed biomass and coal. One possible contributor to the improved binding is the pseudo lignin formed during the MHTC, which led to a better interlocking of the feedstock particles and promoted the solid bridge formation. Composite pellet prepared with 80 wt% of torrefaction char (TC-120), 10 wt% of microwave hydrochar (MHC-30), and 10 wt% of Coal-04 showed a higher heating value of 24.54 MJ/kg and energy density of 26.43 GJ/m3, which is significantly higher than that of the raw cotton stalk pellet (16.77 MJ/kg and 18.76 GJ/m3, respectively), showing great promise as a solid biofuel. The moisture resistance and oxidation reactivity are also significantly improved. The results demonstrate that MHCs provides dual functionalities in acting as binder and fuel promoter in the production of composite biofuel. This study can provide new insight into the unique functions of MHC during fuel application, which demonstrates the great potential of applying MHTC in energy recovery from lignocellulosic biomass.