The Eibar-based technology centre leads the formulation of a new range of environment-friendly biodegradable lubricants from vegetable oils within the BIOVESIN framework programme
Spain consumes half a million tons of lubricants a year, which cause up to 40% of river pollution
Coordinated by the Instituto de la Grasa (GGBLS-CSIC), 14 partners participate in the project. They include Gamesa, Indra Sistemas, Abamotor Energía, Agria Hispania, Verkol, Limagrain Ibérica and Coreysa

TEKNIKER-IK4 leads the formulation and testing of a new generation of biodegradable oils that outperform currently available lubricants and can compete with those derived from mineral oil in their industrial applications. 95% of the lubricants presently in use in Europe are not biodegradable. Spain consumes half a million tons of lubricants a year, which cause up to 40% of river pollution. This gives an idea of how important the development of a range of environment-friendly lubricants is with respect to sustainability.

The Eibar-based technology centre that develops an extensive line of research in the field of sustainable technology has taken up the challenge within the BIOVESIN framework programme. This is an ambitious Spanish Government-funded project aiming to develop an innovative range of environment-friendly lubricants from last-generation vegetable oils and certain biodegradable additives. The project considers using vegetable oils rich in oleic acid, derived from sunflower as well as castor-oil plant seeds.

Those new products will find a direct application in numerous industrial sectors. They are designed in accordance with the biodegradability and toxicity criteria established by the European Ecolabel that assesses the environmental impacts of a product throughout its life cycle.

Designing and launching this new range of biolubricants, under the impulsion of the BIOVESIN programme, offers a number of advantages, being worth highlighting the creation of a patented production technology specific to the Spanish industry, the proliferation of oleaginous (soy, sunflower, corn...) crops for biofuels, the subsequent reduction of production costs and the development of a technology for those new biolubricants to perform well in both cold and hot climates.

Coordinated by the Instituto de la Grasa (GGBLS-CSIC) (the Fat Institute - Group of Genetics and Biochemistry of Seed Lipids - CSIC), the project has been allocated a total budget exceeding 6 million Euros. It is funded by Spain's Ministry of Science and Innovation with the contribution of the FEDER European Funds as a part of the Strategic Singular Projects sub-programme. Fourteen partners, including the Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible - Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (IAS-CSIC), the universities of Santiago, Huelva, Seville and Almeria, and the Gamesa, Indra Sistemas, Abamotor Energía, Agria Hispania, Verkol, Limagrain Ibérica and Coreysa companies, participate in the BIOVESIN project along with Tekniker-IK4 and GGBL-CSIC.

Started in 2006, the project will finish next year, once all the biolubricants for different applications have been developed and have passed all the evaluation tests. Significant achievements have already been obtained, like for instance a specially developed biolubricant for windmills, which further enhances the green nature of wind energy.

Tekniker-IK4, sustainable technology

BIOVESIN is encompassed in TEKNIKER-IK4's activities in the field of ecology and environmental sustainability. In carrying them out, Tekniker-IK4 achieves environment-friendly developments in its varied areas of specialisation and is able to apply sustainable technology to multiple sectors: energy, car and manufacturing industries or transport, among others.

At present, the Eibar-based centre focuses its research works on a line of actions with great and direct impact on all mentioned applications. Worth mentioning among such works are formulating ecological fluids, eliminating toxic components from formulations, using by-products (like glycerine) as raw materials for new compounds, leading projects related to the design of less-polluting engines, suppressing toxic substances from coatings, minimising the environmental impact of the life cycle of various products, and machine-tool ecodesign or sustainable water management.

Regarding biodegradable lubricants in particular, TEKNIKER-IK4 started research on them in 1995 when it developed a sunflower oil-based lubricant for use in hydraulic parts and gears of diggers within the SUNOIL European Project. From that time to its joining BIOVESIN, the Eibar-based technology centre has participated in other projects connected to this area, like BIOGREASE or LUVE, and has definitely contributed to defining the European Ecolabel award criteria.

With more than 25-year experience in applied technology research and transfer of same to the company, TEKNIKER-IK4 has reached a high degree of specialisation in four major areas (Mechatronics and Precision Engineering, Surface Engineering, Production and Automation Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies). It is therefore able to make its pioneering technology available to all kinds of activity. In 2008, the Eibar-based technology centre carried out developments worth about 19 million Euros.

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