Continued from page 17


capacity of the latter will inextricably impact on the lubricants sector. It is already apparent that some major refiners are closing capacity of their integrated lubricants Group I production facilities while taking steps to determine if assets may be economically converted to sustainable product production, for example by treating vegetable oil feedstocks. The demand for sustainable jet fuels will inevitably play heavily on those tasked with making such decisions while what we know already is that in the European area by 2035 the pressure on ending the use of conventionally-fuelled internal combustion engines, notably in the passenger car and light vehicle sectors, will also play an important part in these actions.


At a consumer level, the public have noted that increasing the use of renewable energy sources, sequestering carbon through capture and storage projects, and expanded nuclear electricity generation can all be used to help to achieve the larger elements of decarbonisation.


While all of these ideas will undoubtedly make major contributions to the saving of carbon, the questions arise of ‘in what time scale and can more be done at smaller levels?’


Hence the crucial factors are going to be about the rate of change of carbon reduction and how can each sector demonstrate the value it makes in driving sustainability.


Why faster action is needed The UN says the world is heating up at an unprecedented pace as new climate data shows, while the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)2


emphasises that deep, rapid, and sustained


reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are essential in all sectors, beginning now and continuing throughout this decade. To limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, emissions must already be decreasing and need to be cut by almost half by 2030, just six years away.


This suggests a need for us all to ask what can we do to make a contribution to becoming more sustainable?


The recent work of the joint ATIEL/UEIL team in producing their ‘Methodology for Product Carbon Footrprimts (PCF) Calculations of Lubricants and other


18 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.180 APRIL 2024 Specialities’3 is a positive step. This will help meet the


demand arising from wider commerce particularly those customers with mandatory needs for carbon reporting, but it should also encourage the wider sector to adopt its principles and carefully consider where further carbon savings can be made.


Re-refining makes a difference Our earlier articles showed that fifty years ago legislation had been introduced in Europe recognising the polluting potential of used lubricating oils (ULO’s) while a hierarchical base oil resource efficiency objective could be addressed through re-refining called ‘regeneration’ rather than the burning of waste oil. Waste oil pollution potential can never be underestimated and for that reason good used oil collection procedures are not only essential but are often regulatory led classing this stream as hazardous waste.


Despite the overall legislative aims, the uptake of re-refining in Europe was slow in the late 20th century often due to base oil quality issues, and the considerable oversupply of virgin materials that were regularly available at low cost. Gradually investment in modern refining technology ensured parallel quality production to that of mainstream base oil production, but it is undoubtedly the combined effects of availability of these new qualities, sustainability objectives, and conventional base oil supply and pricing issues that has lifted demand for re-refined base oils to a current new high.


In many EU areas used oil waste tracking is in force with others now following that include waste producer declaration procedures designed to drive up the hierarchical ‘regeneration’ aims of the law. The latest 2023 proposed changes to the European Waste Shipment Regulations will soon ban the trans-frontier movement of hazardous wastes for disposal, meaning that recovery options will have to be applied and that should encourage greater re-refining undertaken at plants of economic capacity.


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