Faculty Publications

The Biodegradation Potential Of Vegetable-Based Hydraulic Fluids Using A Miniaturized Test Method

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Resource and Environmental Biotechnology

Volume

3

Issue

1

First Page

49

Last Page

59

Abstract

The concern of environmental contamination through use and misuse of hydrocarbon-based lubricants has encouraged the development of alternative materials. Environmentally acceptable lubricants (EAL) should be both non-toxic and biodegradable. According to regulatory agencies, a test material is considered readily biodegradable if the material has been converted into more than 60% of the theoretical CO2 production after 28 days in a bioassay system. We describe a miniaturized bioassay which measures CO2 production from a soybean oil-based hydraulic fluid by determining the remaining hydroxide in a Ba(OH)2 solution (trap) in which produced CO2 is dissolved. Bacteria from soil were grown in enrichments containing soybean oil-based hydraulic fluid, isolated, cultured, identified and then used as inoculum to test this method. Biodegradation results show that the soybean oil-based lubricant tested is rapidly biodegradable. The results also demonstrated that a miniaturized method that is inexpensive and minimizes chemical wastes can be used for measuring biodegradation potentials.

Department

Department of Biology

Original Publication Date

1-1-2000

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