Taking Stock at 150:
The Past, Present and Future of the Lubricants Industry
Since the innovation of the first commercial lubricant 150 years ago last year, lubrication has been at the epicenter of technological progress.
Nearly all of mankind’s greatest feats of modern mechanical engineering – from the first automobile to powered flight – have been enabled by the availability of high quality lubricants that help deliver proper performance and protect machine components from increasingly intense operating conditions.
And, over the past century and a half, lubricant technologies have evolved significantly alongside machinery advancements. To commemorate this legacy of innovation, let’s take a closer look at some key moments that have shaped the lubricants industry and trends that will help guide the industry forward as lubricants innovation continues.
Vacuum distillation and the beginnings of the modern lubricants industry
Prior to the innovation of petroleum- based lubricants, most lubricants were developed from animal fats or vegetable oils. As more advanced technologies such as high temperature steam engines became more common throughout the 19th century, these basic lubricants could not adequately protect the machinery.
One of the first solutions was identified almost by accident. In the 1860s, inventor Matthew Ewing was attempting to distill kerosene from crude oil using a process called vacuum distillation. While the resulting oil was not exactly what he hoped for, he and his business partner Hiram B. Everest realized that the resulting oil was ideal for another purpose – lubricating machinery, including steam and internal-combustion engines.
The two partners quickly mobilized to market the product by founding the
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Vacuum Oil Company in 1866, in turn helping found the petroleum-based lubricants industry. From there, the industry grew rapidly, and Vacuum Oil and other lubricants manufacturers continued to develop more specialized lubricant technologies tailored to meet the demands of various applications.
For example, Vacuum Oil company developed a 600-weight cylinder oil for the first gasoline-powered automobile. The automobile’s inventor, George Selden, famously almost gave up on his automobile invention until he came across the oil, which could withstand the engine’s high temperature operating conditions and provide adequate lubrication without burning up or breaking down.
Pushing performance further with additive compounds The introduction of additive compounds to lubricant formulations in the early 20th century was another important milestone, as they helped improve lubricant performance to protect equipment from increasingly challenging operating conditions.
With the right additive chemistry, formulators could develop lubricants that lasted longer in-service and delivered better protection performance, which was particularly useful for applications such as aviation, where more extreme temperatures and larger engines were testing the performance limits for lubricants formulated without additives.
Interestingly, it was the push to research newer and improved additives that led to perhaps the most important milestone in the history of lubricants innovation – the discovery of synthetic lubricants.
Synthetics: a new era for modern lubricants
In 1949, a Mobil™ lubricants engineer was attempting to synthesize step-out
additive compounds. His efforts did not produce any desirable additives, but one of the resulting compounds looked like a mineral-based oil, and it quickly became evident that the new oil was vastly superior to conventional, mineral-based oils in a number of ways.
The synthetic compound stayed together at high temperatures, keeping the metal surfaces clean and maintaining its lubricant film. It was also virtually wax-free, so the oil could keep flowing at very low temperatures. Moreover, this oil could be tailored to meet any viscosity requirement and have a high viscosity index, making it much more versatile for increasingly complex and advanced engine technologies.
That day marked the invention of the first synthetic poly-alphaolefin (PAO), ushering in a new era for commercial lubricants. Over the next few decades, lubricant manufacturers would develop an enormous range of synthetic lubricant formulations to meet increasingly specialized applications:
• In the 1950s and 60s, lubricant manufacturers introduced the first synthetic turbine oils for jet engines and synthetic greases for industrial applications.
• In 1973, Mobil rolled out the first all-synthetic passenger car engine oil that delivered a near-instant jump in engine protection. Shortly thereafter, newer, more fuel efficient engine oils such as Mobil 1™ were introduced, helping drivers not only enhance engine protection but also reduce gasoline consumption by as much as 5%.
• By the 1990s, there were specialized lubricants for a seemingly endless number of applications – for example, food manufacturers can take advantage of food grade industrial lubricants that can be used in the manufacture of Halal and Kosher food.
LUBE MAGAZINE NO.138 APRIL 2017
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