Lube-Tech Introduction
Sulphur limits and the desire for lower viscosity oils for passenger car and heavy-duty diesel lubricants has reduced total global demand for Group I base oils. Manufacturers are moving towards Group II and III which have multiple advantages but are lower in viscosity than Group I base oils.
Because automotive applications represent about 50% of total finished lubricant demand, they define what types of base oils are produced. Pressure to reduce emissions, especially sulphur, improve fuel economy and increase time between drain intervals is driving demand for Group II base oils, as illustrated in Fig.1.
PUBLISHED BY LUBE: THE EUROPEAN LUBRICANTS INDUSTRY MAGAZINE
No.126 page 1
Development and Testing of a Novel Oxidatively Stable Ester
Kevin Duncan, Market Applications Specialist – Croda Europe Ltd Nick Weldon, Technical Marketing Manager – Croda Europe Ltd
Group I demand is falling and plants that produce it are closing, reducing total global capacity. From 2007 to 2014, Group I capacity declined by 6.5 million tonnes1
.
. Group II is expected to make up about half of the total worldwide base stock demand by 20302
Characterisation of Bright Stock Bright stock is sourced from Group I base oils and is used as a viscosity modifier/ thickener for Group I and II base oils, with a viscosity of around 500Cst at 40o and 32Cst at 100o
C C. It has a high sulphur content,
giving it excellent oxidation stability. Alternative high viscosity naphthenic oils have poor oxidation stability unless sulphur is added back into the formulation. The reduction in supply of Group I base oils is reducing the supply of bright stock. Supply is becoming tighter and prices are going up. Users of Group I and II Based lubricants are looking for replacements for bright stocks.
Croda was approached by multiple customers to investigate and develop a product that could be used as a bright stock replacement with equal or superior viscosity modification characteristics and oxidation stability. We created a complex ester-based thickener with multiple advantages over bright stock. In this article, it is called Croda BSA (bright stock alternative).
Fig 1: Base oil Group and usage by year. 1
Development Challenges We used our knowledge of bio-based chemistries to create a product that matched both the thickening
https://www.nynas.com/en/product-areas/base-oils/knowledge-tank/closing-time-for-group-i-refineries/ 2
https://www.infineuminsight.com/en-gb/articles/base-stocks/exxonmobil-on-global-base-stocks
28 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.155 FEBRUARY 2020
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
