Measurement and correlation of the density, viscosity and vapor pressure of fatty acid 2-ethyhexyl esters

Abstract Fatty acid 2-ethylhexyl esters are used for the eco-friendly production of biolubricant. There are several reports on their synthesis, but thermodynamics and transport data of these compounds are lacking. Herein, density and viscosity of palmitic acid 2-ethylhexyl ester, stearic acid 2-ethylhexyl ester and soya oil 2-ethylhexyl esters in the temperature range of T  = (298.18–368.15) K at atmospheric pressure were measured and the vapor pressure in the temperature range of T  = (476.95–500.85, 477.05–498.05, 477.75–500.05) K was determined. The obtained experimental data were correlated using temperature-dependence correlation equations, and the correlation coefficients of all the equations were over 0.999. In order to examine the reliability of the data, the GCVOL group method was used to evaluate densities for these fatty acid 2-ethylhexyl esters with the maximum relative deviation of −1.34%. The experimental viscosity data of synthesized 2-ethylhexyl esters were compared with those of lauric acid 2-ethylhexyl ester, palmitic acid n-octyl ester and oleic acid 2-ethylhexyl ester from previous studies. In addition, the molar enthalpy of vaporization at the mean temperature of the experimental range was calculated for the first time using the Clausius-Clapeyron equation.