Continued from page 35
Even looking back at the 2021 COP in Glasgow, the numbers were striking: In the ranking “number of delegates by country” Brazil came in first (141), then Morocco (110), France (107), Canada (99), Japan (94).
These numbers were dwarfed by 503 fossil fuel lobbyists (>100 fossil fuel companies with 30 trade associations and membership organisations; more than Puerto Rico, Myanmar, Haiti, Philippines, Mozambique, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Pakistan together) [4].
Before we discuss strategies to mitigate or even take advantage of regulations, let us look first at where regulations stem from and how they might affect the lubricants industry.
Regulation is not the blocker as such, but poor administration is
The second most-mentioned complaint is the amount of regulations as a blocker to business growth. This is partly true, however data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Economic Forum and Eurostat data show that the quality of regional administrations influences relationship between a country’s regulatory density and business development. In EU regions with very good administration (e.g. Finland), fast-growing businesses develop positively despite high regulatory density [6].
Inefficient administrations (in the form of lengthy processes, unclear governance, paper- based submissions), on the other hand, exacerbate negative effects of high regulatory density.
Regulations for lubricants affect mainly additives At this point, the author feels obliged to concede something of a vested interest, representing a producer of additives. It seems that most regulations by ECHA address additives. Less so base fluids, packaging, blending, or transport.
Components are being put forward for extinction, leaving lubricant or additive package formulators with less choice in the short-term. Performance of the finished lubricants seems to be compromised, despite the many benefits of lubricants in saving energy and emissions, extending oil life or protecting the invested and costly equipment. Some call the lubricants industry a “sleeping beauty”, where an investment in an additional Dollar for better product quality results in a multiple of up to 30! [7]
Major reductions in automotive packages - components will play larger role Kline data [8] shows that half of global lube demand are crankcase oils, both passenger car and diesel engine oils. On top, additive treat rates tend to be far higher than in industrial oils. For instance, a top tier engine oil contains up to 30% additives, a top-tier hydraulic oil less than 2%.
Engine oils, due to electromobility, will be replaced more and more by cooling fluids, with barely a splash of anti-oxidant and perhaps a corrosion inhibitor in it. Hence, if you have competencies in this area, it is now the right time to build alliances with immersion or cooling fluid providers.
In lay-terms, it is somewhat analogous to when videotapes hit the market. The so-called videotape format war was a period of competition or “format war” of incompatible models of consumer-level analogue video videocassette and video cassette recorders (VCR) in the late 1970s and the 1980s, mainly involving the Betamax and Video Home System (VHS) formats. VHS by JVC ultimately emerged as the preeminent format. It is not clear to me who will win the cooling fluid race: neat oils / water-based / water-glycol/others ? The key to correctly taking advantage of the ultimate format winner is to stay agile and hedge your bets.
Figure 1: Share of additives in a finished lubricant
Renewable content is not either/or Additives can be conventionally- or renewable-based. There are, as a matter of fact, solutions which contain a functional head based on conventional chemistry, and the hydrocarbon side chains – determining viscosity or solubility – based on renewables. These molecules contain a high share of renewables, without compromising on performance (which was a thing of the past).
36 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.179 FEBRUARY 2024
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
