The use of lubricants has grown more widespread with industrial development. Lubricants usually contain additives with heavy metals such as zinc and molybdenum, increasing the emission of heavy metal contamination of soil and ocean. This study synthesised antiwear additives without heavy metal components in a simple and efficient manner by using alkane diacid derivatives produced from biomass and dithiophosphate instead of petroleum‐based compounds. A four‐ball wear test was performed to examine tribological performance in relation to changes in the alkyl chain length of the diacid and dithiophosphate of the synthesised antiwear additive, and the results were compared with the performance of zinc dialkyl‐dithiophosphorus (ZDDP), an antiwear additive that contains heavy metals. The tribological performance of the antiwear additives produced from synthesised dialkyl carboxylic acid derivatives was analysed based on the measurements of wear scar diameter. The wear scar diameter was 0.48 mm for the synthesised antiwear additive, whereas the ZDDP at a concentration of 0.05% gave a diameter of 0.82 mm. In the case of the synthesised antiwear additive, tribological performance did not improve for concentrations higher than 0.05%. An analysis of the carbon chain length of the dialkyl dithiophospate and dicarboxylic acid showed that the wear scar diameter was 0.72 mm when the alkyl chain length of R1 was 4. This diameter dropped below 0.48 mm when the alkyl chain length was greater than 8. When the number of carbons of dicarboxylic acid moiety was increased from 4 to 11, the antiwear performance improved slightly, with the wear scar diameter decreasing from 0.52 to 0.48 mm.