Potential Vegetable Oil-based Lubricants: A Review

A comprehensive review of the research in vegetable oilbased lubricants and their applications was carried out in this study. The materials used in this review were from 38 research publications on vegetable oil-based lubricants as environmental friendly alternatives to petroleum-based lubricants. The methods used for gathering the materials were searched through the databases of publishers such as Google Scholar, Reseachgate, Sciencedirect, and multiple search engines. This was followed by sorting out the relevant ones for detailed review. The review showed research results on oils from various vegetable seeds, namely, groundnut, avocado, jatropha, water melon, star apple, sand box, nicker nut, Barbados nut, mango, black date, yellow oleander, calabash, castor, palm fruit syrup, neem, palm, mustard, cotton, soyabean, jojoba, olive, melon coconut, shea butter, palm kernel, african bean, and african elemi. The research areas were mainly on analysis of their physicochemical properties, experimental investigation of their tribological performance, and their industrial application. It is expected that the outcome of this review would constitute a repository of knowledge on the potentials in vegetable-based lubricants, particularly in their friction and wear behaviour.