Feasibility study of using microorganisms as lubricant component in cutting fluids

Abstract This work intends to lay the basis for a Biological Transformation in Manufacturing (BTM) industrial breakthrough aimed at developing new sustainable microbial-based cutting fluids for greener machining processes. The point of departure is that conventional cutting fluids for machining are either entirely based on mineral oils or, in the case of water-based cutting fluids, contain significant percentages of mineral oils. The world annual consumption of cutting fluid concentrate amounts to several billion litres, highlighting their importance for the manufacturing industry and their criticality in terms of environmental impact. Furthermore, the depletion of mineral oil reserves worldwide is already driving cutting fluid industries to search for new renewable raw materials. A contribution to the solutions of these problems can be provided by the development of microbial-based cutting fluids, incorporated in the machine tool, that contain microorganisms with significant lubricating properties in order to substitute mineral oil-based cutting fluids for use in metal alloy machining.