One of the important properties of lubricating oil is its oxidative staility. Oxidative stability is achieved when the lubricating oil is able to resist oxidation, depanding on the degree of saturation, the presence of natural or added antioxidants, prooxidants or prior abuse. Vegetable oil-based lubricants have been known to exhibit inferior oxidative stability although other fluid properties have proven satisfactory and are comparable to their petroleum counterparts because most of them have compositions more than half or which are unsaturated fatty acids which are susceptible to oxidation. Ways of improving the oxidative stablity of vegetable oil-based lubricants are by altering the functional groups that are susceptible to oxidation via chemical and genetic modifications.

Main Research: Dr Loh Soh Kheang