TLT: What led you to a career in chemistry and working in the petroleum additive industry?
DeBlase: I was fortunate to be influenced with experiences I had while working with my father at an early age. My father, initially a farmer who often analyzed and solved problems as they arose, used his imagination and the resources at hand. He typically would develop a specifically targeted solution. He later started his own business where he designed and built his own manufacturing machines specific to his needs. Ultimately, he created a range of custom residential and commercial overhead garage doors. My initial interest in chemistry stems back from working summers on our family farm, which resulted in an associate of applied science degree in agronomy from The State University of New York at Farmingdale. I became interested in the program studies of crop and soil sciences. My interests were specifically soil chemistry to generate and sustain plant growth, and how small amounts of key compounds can impact food production by maintaining soil fertility.

These studies evolved into an interest in the fundamentals of chemistry and chemical interactions. I pursued a bachelor of science in chemistry at Adelphi University and a doctorate degree in physical chemistry from Brooklyn Polytechnic University (now NYU). During graduate school, I solved problems through developing new instrumentation and applications. After receiving my doctorate, I worked at Harrick Scientific designing new applied custom spectroscopic instrumentation to solve various industrial, chemical analytical problems. This initial applied spectroscopic research led me to applying new spectroscopic designs for Texaco research labs in Beacon, N.Y. My agricultural background paralleled my research in that one must always operate by “keeping the soil fertile” and not wasting resources. At Texaco R&D, I recognized crude oil as a resource for the development of a range of chemical products that should be respected for future energy needs.

Now here at LANXESS, I work on research and development of lubricant additives to further reduce friction, wear and oxidation and looking at new, compatible detergents. My current focus is on developing next-generation additive technology for applications in all areas of automotive needs, both internal combustion engines (ICEs) and driveline as well as hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs). Targeting future additives to meet sustainable green chemistry allows for transition to industrial and metalworking fluids future needs as well. These are a high priority for LANXESS, which is targeting a zero-carbon footprint environmentally neutral by 2040.

TLT: What industry needs do you feel are of critical importance for research?
DeBlase: The evolution of lubricants for automotive and industrial applications, in the past and now, is directed to changing and improving performance in new additive products. For example, current and future specifications for automotive lubricants continue to increase requirements for efficient automotive operation while reducing any negative environmental impact. We must look to increase fuel economy, lessen exhaust emissions and direct the design of additives toward sustainability. Current industry needs look to develop organic additives that can increase fuel economy and protect engine components while maintaining catalytic converters. This allows lowering our carbon footprint through improving fuel economy. The need for increased fuel economy brought about an industry push to develop new lubricant specifications with the designs requiring proper supportive additive technologies. We seek new formulations that reduce oil viscosity, while still reducing surface boundary friction and wear. Meeting these formulations is not easily achieved. 

For example, reducing phosphorus levels to protect catalytic converter life required for sustained high mileage conflicts with having antiwear protection needed for lower viscosity oils. It is then helpful to develop lubricant additives that perform well under environments of complex additive-additive interactions. Beneficial new organic and non-phosphorous-containing additives, developed to be compatible or even complementary with other existing friction modifiers-additives, are helpful.

The target in developing and improving additive systems provides an added combined performance benefit. Since energy losses come from internal viscosity increases and boundary friction, we develop effective and new antioxidants for higher mileage applications. By reducing oxidation products that potentially polymerize increasing viscosity, antioxidants also can help to maintain fuel economy. Newer detergents also are vital to ICE performance in their ability to remove deposits, such as piston rings thought to contribute to low-speed-pre-ignition problems in start-stop vehicles. For automotive combustion engines, a holistic approach is most beneficial. In addition, the opportunity for utilizing sustainable raw materials in developing additives also would benefit and compliment environmental needs.

Looking at the future trends in automotive lubrication, there is no question that next-generation lubricants that will be used in both hybrids and EVs will have new demands and requirements for lubrication. EV lubricants must act to cool working motors and also might be in contact with electrical components such as copper wires, as well as plastic components. New temperature and materials environment will expand the lubricant additive technology beyond that of conventional ICE technology. The nature of the used oil life will likely be much longer than current mileage-based oil changes used in ICE vehicles of today. It is important that for EV-driveline fluids, all properties are met, including thermal stability, foaming, electrical conductivity, copper and plastics corrosion and heat transfer.

TLT: What is your philosophy and approach for testing and developing new additives?
DeBlase: New lubricant additive development for use in fresh, newly blended lubricants is only part of the story. One must consider all parameters of performance such as friction reduction, wear protection, oxidation resistance and detergent actions when the lubricant is freshly formulated, as well as during and after prolonged usage. Under the later conditions, many chemical changes can occur. These are generated from base oil nature, whether conventional, synthetic or mixed, as well as interactions under extremes in temperature and oxidational changes. The lubricant is a complex system with many parts interacting, and heat, mechanical stress, oil aging and conditions of operation affect the system. For example, a base oil and additive might give good performance, but when formulated with other additives such as dispersants, which interact and solubilize polar compounds, the performance might change. It seems best to follow the performance and attempt to design the chemical structure of the molecule to make it as robust as possible in a changing environment. This might require understanding changes that might occur with other additives in the system such as antioxidants and detergents and how heat and time affects those.

At the same time as developing automotive ICE additive applications, we develop driveline, gear and other vehicle components with friction reduction, antiwear, oxidation stability and low-deposit benefits. There can be transfer from automotive to industrial lubricant applications that might serve to benefit multiple sectors of energy savings. In an effort to develop technology with environmentally sustainable properties, the technology can be designed with as much natural raw materials as possible to maximize benefits.

To ensure new lubricants are compatible with e-mobility requirements, testing of lubricant parameters regarding tribology and wear and oxidation stability will need to focus also on electrical conductivity and metal corrosion.

Even gas phase corrosion inhibition might be important. Wear-reducing additives might be needed while still preserving electrical conductivity properties in EVs, neither too conductive nor completely insulating. This can be accomplished in exploring new additives and fluids.



TLT: What standard testing tools do you use for research and product development?
DeBlase: Depending upon the additive, a number of key tests are performed. For a friction modifier additive, a standard range of tribological performance testing should be performed under varied conditions and specimen geometries. From line contact, cylinder on plate in Plint TE-77 tribometer and point contact ball-on-disc in a Mini-Traction Machine (MTM) all provide unique benefits. The testing should be conducted in a range of temperatures as performance is related to viscosity changes. Boundary lubrication is challenged with time while oil oxidation with polarity changes can occur. In a similar manner, studies of antiwear additives can utilize standard ASTM D4172 testing like four-ball wear, and extreme pressure ASTM D2783 testing as well as - new methods of studies with optical profilometry. The latter provide an added dimension in wear characterization, allowing an image of the entire scar including the wear volume that occurs.

A wide series of no-harm testing in the areas of deposit formation, oxidation stability, solubility, metal and elastomer corrosion studies, biodegradation impacts and regulatory compatibility should be established. In order to assess the stability and ensure no negative interactions are occurring, it is useful to run storage stability evaluations at several temperatures.

Even top treating finished oils can reveal a decrease in a performance parameter or an improvement in a parameter previously optimized to some level, depending on any additive-additive interactions present. In addition to laboratory bench scale testing, standard no-harm testing is performed. Utilization of engine specimens such as piston rings on liners and data from both non-fired motor engine friction and wear as well as standard fired engine testing, such as ASTM fuel economy Sequence VIE ASTM D8114, is extremely beneficial for predicting actual vehicle operational performance verification.

TLT: What additive needs do you think are needed in the future?
DeBlase: It would be beneficial to continue pursuing additive developments using more sustainable resources such as bio-renewable sources if available and continue to study additive interactions. If synergies can be found, it will help reduce those additives containing any detrimental metals or elements, which have some less desirable effects.

In new EV applications, hardware changes create new lubricant challenges. For example, one important future requirement is minimizing Cu corrosion, which should always be evaluated in no-harm studies. Any synergistic combinations that help in this regard will likely be needed in the future where lubricants might find themselves in environments such as EVs where they could surround electrical motor copper wires. An example of this is if the same lubricant is used to lubricate mechanical components in contact with the working motors as well as battery packs. A developing area for newer additives for EVs might be the thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity areas for future generations of lubricants in battery electric vehicle (BEV) automotive applications. While reducing friction in the mechanical moving parts, they also might need to remove heat and do it without being electrically conductive. Newer biodegradable additives might be developed to not persist if exposed to the environment as well as increase lubricant properties.

TLT: What is most important when designing new additives?
DeBlase: Looking first at the environmental parameters of operation under which the additive will function is important. This involves understanding the physical, chemical and thermal challenges. The performance benefits must be robust from both initial conditions as well as retained with extended use. For example, in automotive applications, performance needs to be robust and strong at both low mileage fresh oil conditions as well as after high mileage, thereby showing a performance retention benefit.

Additive formulation stability and compatibility, with all other additives in both storage and vehicle operation temperatures, also is important. It is critical to evaluate results from both standard lab performance testing and newly designed in-house tests to explore standard and dynamic changing conditions. These approaches, ultimately, need to correlate to the final working application. This is true whether in a combustion engine, transmission driveline, hybrid, EV or industrial gear and metalworking application.

A check of this correlation and verification of performance with real-world intended application is necessary. Following this approach should help in designing new additive technologies to perform in the final application outside the research lab. Finally, for any new additive technology development, it is best to consider a complete range of no-harm testing to check for any component interactions or materials incompatibility. Based on complete chemical analysis, any new additive technology targets should meet all environmental health and safety registration requirements and, if possible, meet sustainability.

You can reach Frank DeBlase at frank.deblase@lanxess.com.