SBIR-STTR Award

Better fuel economy and stringent environmental requirements continue to drive the search for engine oil lubricants with better performance and less pollution concerns. Inorganic additives have demonstrated good friction reduction results and eliminated the hazardous components from traditional organic friction modifiers. However, their dispersibility in lubricant formulations has been non-satisfactory and has become a major hurdle in their adoption into commercial application, since it directly affects to the performance, long term stability and appearance of the oil. Pixelligent proposes to develop an advanced lubricant package utilizing high quality nanocrystal additives to improve friction and wear properties. Our advanced dispersion technology allows us to tailor design the surface chemistry of the nanocrystals, which renders them superior dispersibility in lubricant oils, improving the lubrication performance without altering their clarity or viscosity. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits An extension of this SBIR project into Phase II and beyond will allow us to develop prototype lubricant package based on nanocrystal additives, and test and optimize their performance. The reduced wear provided by our nanocrystal additives will prolong the lifetime of engines and machine parts, while improving their overall life-cycle fuel efficiency. The nanocrystal additives also provide the added environmental benefit of displacing traditional chemical additives, which lead to more harmful emissions.

The innovations in engine and drivetrain lubricants are mainly driven by ever more stringent regulations, which demand better fuel economy, lower carbon emission, and less pollution. Many technologies are being developed for the next generations of vehicles to achieve these goals. Even if these technologies can be adopted, there still is a significant need for a “drop-in” lubricant solution for the existing ground vehicle fleet to reap immediate fuel savings at the same time reduce the pollution. In recent studies, including the Phase I of this proposal and other related projects carried out by Pixelligent, metal-oxide nanocrystal additives have demonstrated results that significantly improved both friction and wear. Dramatic CoF and wear reductions were observed when Pixelligent’s proprietary, mono-dispersed, and highly scalable metal oxide nanocrystals were added to the base oils. The dispersions in base and formulated oils are clear and without any change of appearance and viscosity. However, the benefits provided by the nanocrystals were limited to the base oils due the interference of exiting additives in the fully formulated oils. Developing a prototype formulation including the nanocrystals that can demonstrate the same improvements observed in the base oils is a critical step toward the commercialization of these advanced nano-additives. A ‘bottom-up’ approach will be adopted to develop a prototype lubricant formulation to avoid the complicated interactions with the multitude of additives, only minimal numbers of most essential additives will be added, step by step, into the formulation, to ensure that they are compatible with the nanocrystals and do not compromise their tribological performance. Tribological performance will be characterized to come up with the best formulations that can demonstrate the commercial potential of the nano-additives.Commercial Applications and Other Benefits If the Phase II Project is successful, through a combination of continued government support and a joint development agreement (JDA) with a major formulator, a fully formulated drop-in advanced lubricant package for the existing ground vehicle fleet will be developed and commercialized. The major potential benefit to the public would be the much improved fuel economy, up to 3.1% as estimated, if adopted by the existing ground vehicle fleet. The nanocrystal additives also provide an alternative to the sulfur and phosphor containing additives to reduce the pollutants in the emissions. The nano-additives can also find specialty applications where no proper additives have been found and improve the efficiency of machinery operating at extreme conditions. The growth of Pixelligent will also revitalize the local infrastructure create high quality jobs in the local economy.