Project description
From lubricants to ecofluids, pioneering sustainability in industrial societies
In today’s industrial landscape, the demand for lubricants is growing, despite concerns over their safety and sustainability. Traditional formulations often pose risks to human health, harm the environment, and lack longevity. In this context, the EU-funded SiToLub project tackles the pressing need for Safe and Sustainable by Design lubricants. It aims to develop a digital platform for formulating ecofluids, ensuring safety and sustainability. Molecular dynamic models will assess safety parameters, while tribological models predict energy consumption, material durability, and fluid degradation. Flexible enough to accommodate various applications like wind turbines and electric cars, this project integrates technical evaluations with AI-driven computational models and Life-Cycle Analysis.
Objective
SiToLub project aims to develop a digital tool/platform for the Safe and Sustainable by Design formulation of new lubricants. The tools developed will provide assessment of the safety (toxicity to humans, ecotoxicity to environment and workers risk) and, at the same time, sustainability guidance to design ecofluids (coolants, greases, oils) in a clear and holistic way regarding the foreseeable physico-chemical properties and tribological performance.
The safety assessment will be realized by using molecular dynamic models developed by the partners.
The tribological models will allow the prediction of the energy consumption during use by providing friction force values, and expected durability of the materials by using wear data about the materials in contact with different fluids. they will also provide information about tthe degradation of the fluids in use and the chemical reactions occurring. The models will be flexible enough to predict the behaviour of the materials for different working parameters applied for different applications (wind turbines, electric cars and waterborne)
This ambitious and forward-thinking system will leverage on a series of tools, ranging from technical evaluation and prediction models (computational models supported by artificial intelligence), combined with established Life-Cycle Analysis (LCA) methodologies to consider the environmental, social and economic impact.
The project will move in close collaboration with already funded European projects as i-Tribomat (H2020 G.A. 814494) for the creation of a OiTB for tribological materials, OntoCommons (H2020 G.A. 958371) for the standardisation of data documentation across all domains related to materials and manufacturing and IRISS (HORIZON EUROPE G.A. 101058245), the international ecosystem for accelerating the transition to Safe-and-Sustainable-by-design materials, products and processes.
Fields of science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligence
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringtribologylubrication
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energywind power
- natural scienceschemical sciences
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwaresoftware applicationssimulation software
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
20600 Eibar Guipuzcoa
Spain