Lubrifiants et environnement

Laboratoire de chimie agro-industrielle, UMR 1010 INRA/INP- ENSIACET, 118 route de Narbonne, 31077 Toulouse cedex 04

Abstract

As figures show, volumes of lost lubricants in Europe like in most of industrial countries represent a threat for the environment and for the human health. Numerous activity fields are concerned through equipment involved in transports, in construction, in mechanical industry, in forest harvesting or in agriculture… The spread of lubricants in the environment affects different parts of the natural medium (soils, underground waters, rivers…), which explains the difficulty to select analytic methods assessing the real environmental impact of these products. The most usual analyses provides degradation rates of the substance in contact with microorganisms, doses of non-toxicity or measures regarding to the oxygenation rate of waters. It is important to select the most adapted method according to the context. For a few years, vegetable based lubricants have been considered as a reliable solution to combine technical performances and ecocompatibility characteristics. These meet criteria defined in ecolabels or other classifications concerning several categories of biolubricants. National and european programs aiming at technology transfer allowed to measure and compare the ultimate biodegradability in liquid and in soil for hydraulic fluids. The results obtained show an environmental gain for biolubricants included after a 1,000 hours operation period.