Why not use Bio-Diesel oils in Metal Finishing?
+++++++ For the uninitiated, bio-diesel consists of the methyl or ethyl esters of fatty acids. As a pollution control guy, I’ve seen hydrocarbon greases and oils as real bearish bugaboos in metal finishing operations. Every job shop plater has a few customers who send their parts in just dripping with oil…that winds up being a floating layer of nasty atop the alkaline cleaner that must be skimmed or sopped up. And that then becomes haz waste for the plater to deal with. And, cutting fluids and lubricants, that in the process of being used, become nasty, hard to break oil-in-water emulsions…more haz waste. And, oils applied to coatings like black oxide. When the parts drip off, inevitably, the oil gets around. And, inevitably, some of it becomes…yes, you guessed it. More hazardous waste. So, to make this non-abstract, let me ask: what would be the problem with substituting bio-diesel in some, or all of these applications? A bit of acid, and heat, converts it back into methanol or
