Biobased Lubricants with Dr. Joseph Perez

In the second installment of our interview with Dr. Joseph Perez, we discuss bio-based lubricants. Bio-based lubricants are defined as lubricants that are formulated with renewable and biodegradable base stocks. Dr. Perez covers the advantages, potential detractors, the competition with petroleum-based products, and the challenges faced when researching and working with bio-based lubricants.

This podcast is part of a series designed to give you more information about a given topic while also providing information about our upcoming education courses offered at the 2011 STLE Annual Meeting. You can listen to expert interviews and preview education courses at the same time. To listen to this episode, click the "play" button on the slider bar above, download this week's episode, or read the transcript. You can get more information on bio-based lubricants, explore more about the Annual Meeting and see what other courses are offered on our website.

You can read more about the topic by checking out the following articles: Eco-Friendly Fluids for the Lubricants Industry, Biobased Lubricants: Gearing up for a Green World, Everything Old is New Again, and Planting Hope. These are all articles that can be found in previous issues of TLT, Tribology & Lubrication Technology, STLE's monthly member magazine. Click here to view the digital version of this month's issue, or click here to get your own subscription.

Biobased Fuels with Dr. Joseph Perez

This podcast marks the beginning of a series that is designed to shed some light on the 2011 Annual Meeting and the education courses offered. In this series, we talk to course instructors and get a feel for the topics covered in their courses.

Get your personal preview now by downloading the first episode. To listen, simply click the "play" button on the slider bar above, download the file to your computer, or read the transcript.

In this episode, we talk to Dr. Joseph Perez, Senior Research Scientist at Penn State. Dr. Perez is the Chair of the Biofuels and Biolubricants course at the 2011 Annual Meeting. This podcast will look at bio-based fuels, with the second episode on bio-based lubricants to be released at the end of this month.

Biofuels are defined as a wide range of fuels that serve as alternatives to petroleum fuels. They are in some way derived from biomass. The term biofuel covers a wide variety of projects involving the conversion of natural resources to fuels.

Dr. Perez works with biofuels on a daily basis. He leads an initiative at Penn State to make the university "green." The program, conducted by Dr. Perez and the Chemical Engineering Department's Tribology Group, involves overseeing and studying the use of biobased lubricants and biofuels in the university's farm equipment, elevators and campus vehicles. He is also currently involved in a range of biofuel studies that look at improving low temperature characteristics and oxidation stability of biodiesel. Dr. Perez will be teaching a part of the course, and will be accompanied by other individuals who work or conduct research in this field. You can get more information on biofuels, the 2011 Annual Meeting, and the AM education course line up by visiting our website.