Effect of turmeric oil and halloysite nano clay as anti-oxidant and anti-wear additives in rice bran oil

Abstract

Mineral oils, which are mainly used as lubricant base oils in industries and automobiles, are non-bio degradable, toxic and cause harm to our environment. A large quantity of the lubricants, approximately 150 million barrels are used per year. In order to tackle the adverse effects of mineral oils on the environment, an idea emerged to replace mineral oils with an environmentally friendly bio lubricant. Vegetable oils having good lubricating properties, biodegradability and non-toxicity became the forerunners in these new bio lubricant formulation methods. In this paper, physical, chemical, tribological properties and oxidative stability of rice bran oil with two non-toxic additives, namely turmeric oil and halloysite nano clay, were evaluated. The gas chromatography method was used for structure elucidation. The tribological properties were evaluated by a four-ball apparatus as per ASTM D4172-94. Rice bran oil with 0.1% halloysite nano clay and 1.5% turmeric oil has shown 16.1% and 13.4% reduction in coefficient of friction and wear scar diameter, respectively, whereas the acid and peroxide value has reduced to 49% and 52%, respectively, when compared with the pure rice bran oil. The effect of turmeric oil in rice bran oil was evaluated using DFT-based quantum chemical studies using Gaussian 09, and it was found that the curcumin, which is the major component of turmeric oil, has shown good anti-oxidant behaviour. The properties of rice bran oil were observed to increase at a synergic combination of turmeric oil and halloysite nano clay.