ESTIMATION AND CORRELATION DEVELOPED FOR TOTAL BASE NUMBER (TBN) OF LUBRICATING OIL USING FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY

Abstract

Proper lubrication in the machine is very important. Without proper lubrication in the machine reduces the performance and life of machine. The working of machine in good condition depend on the quality of lubricants and condition of machine. The lubricating properties of lubricants decide the time interval of lubrication. Hence rather than the conventional way of changing the lubricant at the fixed interval, it is recommended that the oil be changed based on their lubricating properties. Viscosity and Total Base Number (TBN) are two very important properties which affect the useful life of the oil. Total Base Number (TBN) is measure of alkaline reserve present in the oil. TBN is defined as the amount of KOH required to balance HCl that in turn will balance all the basic components present in one gram of the lubricating oil. With time this basic component of the oil gets reduced, so it is a good parameter to assess the deterioration of oil. Tom (2007) described how FTIR can be used for oil analysis and suggested the selection of correct parameters for specific applications. The present paper proposes to use Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to find TBN value of the oil. In this paper the trends in TBN with the transmittance of selected peak will be found out and the equations of the trend line will give the TBN value at any particular value of transmittance of FTIR spectra. So the proposed method will be more economical, simpler fast and compatible to be a part of online oil analysis system.