食品级润滑油主要由基础油、添加剂调配而成。由于食品级润滑油主要用于食品工业中，所以对润滑油的要求就非常严格，不仅要满足机械的润滑，而且不能污染产品，对食品安全造成影响。

基础油

基础油一般采用加氢裂解的精制矿物油，其特点是组分比较纯净，含硫和芳香族成分少，含水量少，不易被氧化和乳化。另外常用的基础油还有聚α烯烃（PAO），它是一种人工合成的基础油，组分纯净单一，不含硫和芳香族成分，具有天然的疏水性能，耐温抗氧化性。近年来欧美等国家生物基础油也取得了很大的进步，达到了合成油的性能，加上天然的无毒、高粘度指数和环保的优点，在食品业也开始大规模应用。总的来说，食品级润滑油的基础油必须具有非常好的抗氧化、耐高低温和抗乳化性能，使用寿命长，能减少设备的磨损，延长设备的使用寿命，并降低维护频率；同时，还不含有毒物质，不会对产品造成污损。

添加剂

添加剂可以显著改善润滑油的某些特殊性能，或者赋予起某些不具备的性能。在高性能的润滑油中，添加剂的品种和数量反而比普通润滑油少，甚至不加添加剂，特别是很多人工合成的超高性能润滑油。

对于很多普通润滑油而言，其基础油一般为溶剂抽提矿物油，成分比较复杂，含有芳香烃、硫化物和其他不具润滑性能的杂质。为了提高其性能，研究人员开发了一系列添加剂，如抗氧化剂、极压添加剂、油性剂等等。这些添加剂性能很好，但是往往有一定的毒性，不适用于食品级润滑油。有时候配方中添加剂品种多了，会导致不利的影响。比如有些添加剂含金属盐成分，容易吸收水分，导致油品含水量增加。所以为提高食品级润滑油的性能，要从两个方面着手，一是采用性能出众的基础油；二是开发适用于食品级润滑剂的无毒添加剂。食品级润滑油也是从这两个方面着手的。首先采用优质精制基础油，如加氢裂解的矿物油，它的链状饱和碳氢化合物占99%以上，不含芳香烃类，含硫量小于10ppm。而普通溶剂抽提矿物油链状碳氢化合物只占65%～75%，芳香烃占25%～35%，含硫量为13～15,000ppm。另一种是人工合成的基础油，油分子被人工设计成一定的大小和结构，成分单一，在微观结构上不给氧化剂和水以结合的空间。还有就是近年由植物油发展的高油酸基础油HOBS，也具有高度的饱和性和稳定性。其次是还开发了针对这些精制基础油的新一代无毒添加剂技术，以进一步提高食品级润滑油性能和安全性。两者的结合保证了食品级润滑油在食品、饮料、制药工业温湿的工作环境下能保持优异的抗氧化性、耐高低温和抗乳化性能。


Food-grade lubricants are mainly made from basic oils and additives. Since food-grade lubricants are mainly used in the food industry, the requirements for lubricants are very strict, not only to meet the lubrication of machinery, but also not to contaminate products and have an impact on food safety.
Base oil
The basic oil generally uses refined mineral oil with hydrogen cracking, which is characterized by relatively pure components, low sulfur and aromatic components, low water content, and is not easy to be oxidized and emulsified. In addition, the commonly used basic oil is polyalpha olefin(PAO), which is a synthetic basic oil with a pure and single component, no sulfur and aromatic components, natural hydrophobic properties, and thermal resistance. In recent years, biologically-based oils in Europe and the United States have also made great progress, achieving the performance of synthetic oils. In addition to the advantages of natural non-toxic, high viscosity index and environmental protection, large-scale applications have also begun in the food industry. In general, the base oil of food-grade lubricants must have very good antioxidant, high-temperature and anti-emulsifying properties, long service life, can reduce the wear of the equipment, extend the service life of the equipment, and reduce the maintenance frequency; At the same time, it does not contain toxic substances and will not cause pollution to the product.
additive
Additives can significantly improve certain special properties of lubricants, or give some performance that does not exist. In high-performance lubricants, the variety and quantity of additives are less than those of ordinary lubricants, and even additives are not added, especially many synthetic ultra-high-performance lubricants.
For many common lubricants, the base oil is generally solvent extraction mineral oil, the composition is relatively complex, containing aromatic hydrocarbons, sulphides and other impurities that do not have lubrication properties. In order to improve its performance, the researchers developed a series of additives such as antioxidants, extreme pressure additives, oily agents and so on. These additives perform well, but they often have certain toxicity and are not suitable for food-grade lubricants. Sometimes there are many kinds of additives in the formula, which can lead to adverse effects. For example, some additives contain metal salt components, which easily absorb water, resulting in an increase in the water content of oil products. Therefore, in order to improve the performance of food-grade lubricants, we must start from two aspects, one is to use superior performance of the base oil; The second is to develop non-toxic additives suitable for food-grade lubricants. Food grade lubricants are also started from these two aspects. First, high-quality refined base oils, such as hydrolyzed mineral oil, are used. Its chain saturated hydrocarbons account for more than 99 %, do not contain aromatic hydrocarbons, and have a sulfur content of less than 10 ppm. The ordinary solvent extraction of mineral oil chain hydrocarbons accounts for only 65 % to 75 %, aromatic hydrocarbons account for 25 % to 35 %, and sulfur content is 13 ~ 15,000 ppm. The other is synthetic basic oil. Oil molecules are artificially designed to be of a certain size and structure. The composition is single, and there is no space for oxidants and water to combine in the microscopic structure. In addition, HOBS, a high-oleic acid-based oil developed from vegetable oils in recent years, also has a high degree of saturation and stability. Secondly, a new generation of non-toxic additive technology for these refined base oils was developed to further improve the performance and safety of food-grade lubricants. The combination of the two ensures that food-grade lubricants can maintain excellent antioxidant, high and low temperature resistance and anti-emulsifying properties in the warm and humid working environment of food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries.