American Journal of Applied and Industrial Chemistry 2018; 2(1): 1-7 http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ajaic doi: 10.11648/j.ajaic.20180201.11 Use of Lagenaria Siceraria Seed Oil for the Production of Environmentally Friendly Biolubricant Owuna Friday Junior 1, * , Dabai Musa Usman 1 , Sokoto Muhammad Abdullahi 1 , Muhammad Chika 1 , Abubakar Aminu Lailaba 2 1 Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria 2 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria Email address: * Corresponding author To cite this article: Owuna Friday Junior, Dabai Musa Usman, Sokoto Muhammad Abdullahi, Muhammad Chika, Abubakar Aminu Lailaba. Use of Lagenaria Siceraria Seed Oil for the Production of Environmentally Friendly Biolubricant. American Journal of Applied and Industrial Chemistry. Vol. 2, No. 1, 2018, pp. 1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaic.20180201.11 Received: September 3, 2018; Accepted: September 14, 2018; Published: October 12, 2018 Abstract: The needs for environmentally friendly energy sources, coupled with the depleted fossil oil reserves, have generated interests in the search for world’s alternative energy sources, and vegetable oils seem to be the best options. This study assesses the use of Lagenaria siceraria seed oil (LSSO) as a potential source of environmentally friendly biolubricant. The LSSO was extracted from the Lagenaria siceraria seed (LSS) using Soxhlet apparatus, and a yield of 41.70% was obtained, with n-hexane as the extracting solvent. The physicochemical parameters of LSSO were assayed to confirm its potential for the production of environmentally friendly biolubricant. The result showed that the kinematic viscosities of 6.24±0.10cSt (at 100°C) and 21.74±0.02 cSt (at 40°C) were obtained, while the viscosity index (266±0.00) was also obtained. An experiment was designed (Mixture Design Method using Minitab 17) to obtain the proportion of LSSO (47.50%), SN 500 (47.50%), and additives (5.00%) that gave the mixture with the optimum physicochemical parameters of the produced biolubricant. The produced LSSO biolubricant had kinematic viscosities 9.59±0.02 cSt (at 100°C) and 49.62±0.14 cSt (at 40°C), a viscosity index of 181±0.01, flash point of 230±1.20°C, pour point of -30±0.03°C, acid value of 2.72±1.03 mg KOH g -1 , and iodine value of 1.28±1.40 mg I 2 g -1 . The LSSO biolubricant has physicochemical parameters that are within the standard for engine oils and could compete favourably with the synthesised environmentally acceptable lubricating oils. Keywords: Production, Environment, Biolubricant, Lagenaria Siceraria, Viscosity 1. Introduction Global attention is gradually shifting to the use of vegetable oils as promising alternative sources of energy due to depletion of fossil oil reserves, environmental challenges caused by the use of fossil oils, and non-renewability of the conventional petroleum energy sources [1-7]. In addition to the renewability and environmentally friendly nature of the vegetable oils, they can also be produced locally [5, 7] thereby serving as sources of income to rural communities. Vegetable oils are gaining recognition as the most promising energy sources and a blend of small quantity of vegetable oils with fossil oils has significant impact on the environment and economy [5, 7-9]. Lagenaria siceraria is a climbing ornamental plant planted largely in Northern Nigeria. It is a white flowered gourd known as long melon, and a vine grown for its fruits which can be used as vegetable when harvested young or used as bottle (utensil or pipe) when harvested dried, while the fresh fruit has a light-green smooth skin and white flesh. The plant is commonly found around Gombe, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States of North-western Nigeria [10-13]. After harvesting, only few quantities of the Lagenaria siceraria seeds (LSS) are preserved for planting. The rest non-edible seeds are wasted. These non-utilised seeds could find relevance as renewable and ecofriendly sources of energy [13]. This study was focused on the utilisation of LSSO as potential sources of environmetally friendly biolubricating oil.