Lubricants that are based on renewable raw materials have drawn increased attention in various applications, especially those related to the food industry. Due to the high requirements of environmental protection, there is a need to develop biodegradable base oils that are environmentally friendly and do not contain harmful components. The objective of the research was to obtain a base oil with a certain viscosity and certain desired lubricating properties. Base oils were obtained from Crambe abyssinica oil by means of blending with synthetic oil and oxidation. The oxidation processes were carried out in the presence of N-hydroxyphthalimide with or without CO2 as a solvent. As a final result of this study, oil bases meeting the viscosity requirements and showing suitable lubricating properties were obtained. The Raman spectra of the obtained oils were evaluated.

Raw vegetable oil from Crambe abyssinica was subjected to oxidative treatment to enhance its viscosity. The oxidation processes were carried out in the presence of N-hydroxyphthalimide with or without supercritical CO2 as a solvent. Four spectroscopic techniques (Raman, UV-VIS, FT-IR, NMR) were applied to assess the chemical changes taking place during the oxidation. Raman and NMR spectroscopy proved best in the assessment of the chemical transformations leading to increased viscosity of the modified vegetable oil.

The two last decades have been marked by an increasing environmental awareness. In relationship to detergents, renew-ability, biodegradability, and ecotoxicity have become important issues in the study, development and application of surfactants. In this respect, rapeseed methyl ester ethoxylates are an interesting new class of nonionic surfactants that gain more and more interest on the market. They are easily to formulate into attractive liquid detergents with high cleaning performance and show a more favorable ecotoxicological profile compared to fatty alcohol ethoxylates.

This work presents a comparative ecological assessment of dodecanolethoxylates and rapeseed acid methyl ester ethoxylates as nonionic surfactants. It was found that ethoxylated rapeseed acid methyl esters show higher biodegradability and lower aquatic toxicity compared to 1-dodecanol ethoxylates. A prognostic model for environmental impact of the studied series of surfactants was developed using the data from biodegradation and aquatic toxicity tests combined with estimated concentration of the surfactants in a wastewater stream. It is shown that an ecological risk of bulk application of dodecanolethoxylates can be expected over a longer term, while significant reduction of environmental fate would occur by the alternative use of ethoxylated rapeseed acid methyl esters. We concluded that ethoxylated rapeseed acid methyl esters can be considered as environmentally superior surfactants.

The processes of direct ethoxylation of methyl and ethyl esters of unsaturated fatty acids have been described. Two different types of catalysts were employed in those tests: calcium-based catalyst and aluminum-magnesium-based catalyst. Compositions of the synthesized oxyethylates were analyzed with the use of the GC/FID, GC/MS, GPC, and HPLC, HPLC/MS, MALDI methods. Comparative evaluation of the obtained products for both types of catalysts was run in terms of reaction by-products. Biodegradation tests of the oxyethylated products were carried out according to OECD guidelines and physical and chemical properties of oxyethylates were specified which affects the directions of their applications.