Abstract

Lubricating oil, used in cutting equipment, works in the so-called open lubrication system and is entirely emitted to the environment. When such an oil contains even a small portion of the crude oil-derived fraction, which is still very common, the oil is a serious environmental pollution. In addition, the oil mist poses a serious threat to the health of employees. Current legal regulations require users of saws and harvesters to use only biodegradable oils. In the case of hydraulic oils used in machines and vehicles, there is always a risk of leakage into the environment e.g. in case of breakage of connecting pipes or other types of breakdowns. Therefore, it seems reasonable to postulate the use of biodegradable oils in power hydraulics systems of machines used in forests, fields, mines or in rail or road vehicles. Bio-degradable oil, most often, with base vegetable oil, is more expensive than lubricating oil produced with the use of an oil-based oil base – i.e. a product of oil refining. Today, users of saws and harvesters still use mineral lubricating oils from crude oil, without any attention to the negative consequences for health and the environment. The known methods of the assessment of biodegradability of lubricating oils are expensive and time-consuming. The paper proposes a principle of method and equipment for performing a quick and cheap screening test for the presence of petroleum-derived fractions containing aromatic hydrocarbons in the analyzed lubricating oil samples. The test uses an oil fluorescence test under UV light of wavelength λ = 365 nm. The proposed method is simple and does not require specialist qualifications from the user. Easy-to-prepare equipment for repetitive testing in field conditions has been described.

Authors (4)