Lube-Tech
Environmental Social Governance (ESG) is now a critical component of the strategies of many organisations. Customers, communities, regulators, and investors are seeking assurance that sustainable practices addressing issues such as climate change and energy conservation are being adopted. In our lubricant industry, significant innovation in new lubricant product development continues to evolve as can be seen with products that offer superior energy and fuel efficiency than their predecessors or indeed are safer for the environment. As organisations work to meet the expectations of ESG including Societal Development Goals (SDG), the development of lubricants continues to evolve to meet sustainability goals without sacrificing performance. Newly developed base oils that were designed from the outset for sustainability are meeting the requirements for both performance and sustainability.
Innovation in the development of bio-lubricants and environmentally-acceptable lubricants has seen the evolution and adoption of new products for at least the past 30 years. Natural esters and synthetic esters have often been the preferred choice of base
26 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.173 FEBRUARY 2023
PUBLISHED BY LUBE: THE EUROPEAN LUBRICANTS INDUSTRY MAGAZINE
No.144 page 1
Novel hybrid esters: Base oils designed for sustainability
Martin Greaves, PhD, CTO, VBASE Oil Company, Baar, Switzerland Zach Hunt, Application Development and Technical Sales VBASE Oil Company, Pendleton, SC USA Jeffrey DiMaio, PhD, CEO, VBASE Oil Company, Pendleton, SC US
oil when formulating bio-lubricants. Natural esters such as rapeseed oil, soybean oil and sunflower oil offer very high levels of biodegradability and have found use in equipment where thermal stresses are low. Chemically they are triglycerides, and their performance is largely determined by the type of acid fraction within their backbone and the levels of oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids in each fraction(1). Synthetic esters are often preferred when the thermal stress on the lubricant is higher, or the lubricant is used in extreme cold climates. Many synthetic esters are derived from petrochemical feedstocks but some are derived from bio- or oleochemical feedstocks(2). Bio-based products are made of renewable carbons and are described in terms of their ‘Percent Renewable Carbon Content’ as measured using carbon dating techniques. Historically, the focus in the EU has been on biodegradation; however, with the push towards more sustainable solutions, the biobased content or renewability of lubricants are gaining emphasis. However, as the UN Sustainable Development Goals focus on protecting water quality and air quality with reduced carbon footprint, both of these focus points are being brought into harmony.
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