Friction performance of palm oil-based trimethylolpropane ester containing bacterial cellulose and sorbitan monostearate: A Taguchi-based study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24036/teknomekanik.v9i3.59272Keywords:
palm oil, biolubricant, bacterial cellulose, coefficient of frictionAbstract
Growing environmental concerns have prompted researchers to investigate renewable alternatives to mineral oils. Palm oil is a promising vegetable oil for use as a lubricant base stock due to its renewability, biodegradability, low environmental toxicity, and high viscosity. In this study, palm oil was chemically modified by a two-step esterification/transesterification process with trimethylolpropane (TMP) to yield palm oil-based TMP ester (PTMPE) as a base oil. Bacterial cellulose (BC) from nata de coco and sorbitan monostearate (Span 60) were incorporated into the base oil at different concentrations as an additive and a surfactant, respectively. Friction analysis was carried out using a four-ball tribotester at an elevated temperature. The Taguchi method was applied to optimize the experiment, with the mass fractions of BC and Span 60, as well as ultrasonication time, as input factors, and the coefficient of friction (COF) as the response. The results showed that the lowest COF was obtained when 0.3 wt% bacterial cellulose and 0.9 wt% Span 60 were added to the PTMPE ester and ultrasonicated for 10 minutes. In contrast to other studies that concentrated on water- or synthetic-based carriers, the friction-reducing performance of bacterial cellulose in PTMPE was investigated, resulting in a 16.45% decrease in COF under a 392 N load. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that none of the investigated parameters were statistically significant in explaining variations in the coefficient of friction. However, the ultrasonication time had the largest estimated contribution among the investigated factors, accounting for almost 50%.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Dedi Rosa Putra Cupu, Hairul Abral, Dedison Gasni, Zahrul Fuadi, Zulhanafi Paiman, Chong Wei Quan, Kahar Osman (Author)
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