London, July 11 (IANS) Researchers have developed an eco-friendly lubricating grease, based on ricin oil and cellulose derivatives. The new formula does not include any of the contaminating components used to manufacture traditional industrial lubricants.
“The objective of this research was to develop a product that could be used as a lubricating grease but that was made only from natural materials and was 100 percent biodegradable,” said Jose Maria Franco, chemical engineer at Huelva University (Spain) and member of the project team.

Eco-friendly greases are “oleogels” that use cellulose derivatives from plants and

ricin oil (from a bush) as a lubricant base.

Franco said these new formulations are “an alternative to traditional lubricating greases, which create pollution that is difficult to combat once discharged into the environment”, according to a Huelva University release.

Existing lubricants are made from synthetic oils or petroleum derivatives, and thickeners made with metallic soaps or polyurea derivatives (a family of synthetic polymers). These are currently the best performers, but they also imply more problems from an environmental perspective.

Millions of tonnes of hydraulic and industrial oils, and others from machinery, are discharged each year into rivers, the sea and fields. Mineral-based oils can contaminate groundwater for more than 100 years, and can prevent the growth of trees and prove toxic to aquatic life.

These findings were published in Green Chemistry.