Comparison of Eco-Friendly Ionic Liquids and Commercial Bio-Derived Lubricant Additives in Terms of Tribological Performance and Aquatic Toxicity

He, Xin; Stevenson, Louise M.; Kumara, Chanaka; Mathews, Teresa J.; Luo, Huimin; Qu, Jun

doi:10.3390/molecules29163851

Comparison of Eco-Friendly Ionic Liquids and Commercial Bio-Derived Lubricant Additives in Terms of Tribological Performance and Aquatic Toxicity

Journal Article · Wed Aug 14 00:00:00 EDT 2024 · Molecules

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29163851· OSTI ID:2503545

He, Xin; ; Kumara, Chanaka; Mathews, Teresa J.; Luo, Huimin;

Approximately half of the lubricants sold globally find their way into the environment. The need for Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants (EALs) is gaining increased recognition. A lubricant is composed of a base oil and multiple functional additives. The literature has been focused on EAL base oils, with much less attention given to eco-friendly additives. This study presents the tribological performance and aquatic toxicity of four short-chain phosphonium-phosphate and ammonium-phosphate ionic liquids (ILs) as candidate anti-wear and friction-reducing additives for EALs. The results are benchmarked against those of four commercial bio-derived additives. The four ILs, at a mere 0.5 wt% concentration in a synthetic ester, demonstrated a 30–40% friction reduction and >99% wear reduction, superior to the commercial baselines. More impressively, all four ILs showed significantly lower toxicity than the bio-derived products. In an EPA-standard chronic aquatic toxicity test, the sensitive model organism, Ceriodaphnia dubia, had 90–100% survival when exposed to the ILs but 0% survival in exposure to the bio-derived products at the same concentration. This study offers scientific insights for the future development of eco-friendly ILs as lubricant additives.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Water Power Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 2503545

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 2434356

Journal Information:: Molecules, Journal Name: Molecules Journal Issue: 16 Vol. 29; ISSN MOLEFW; ISSN 1420-3049

Publisher:: MDPI AGCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: Switzerland

Language:: English

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