Evaluation of Cellulose Laurate Esters for Application as Green Biolubricant Additives

Decreasing mineral oil resources, increasing costs, and the need for environmental protection in the use and disposal of lubricants have forced researchers to develop green lubricant formulations. Although many green lubricants consisting of biodegradable base stocks that exhibit excellent properties have been developed, further improvements in their friction and wear performance are required for them to become replacements for mineral-oil-based lubricants. Therefore, in addition to the introduction of biolubricants, the development of new environmentally benign lubricant additives is gaining attention to address the environmental issues. Along these lines, the present investigation involved the synthesis of cellulose laurate by an esterification reaction between microcrystalline cellulose and lauroyl chloride [CH3(CH2)10COOCl] using dimethylacetamide/lithium chloride (DMAc/LiCl) as the solvent and 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP) as the catalyst. Different reactions were carried out with varying concentr...