RENEWING OUR APPROACH TO
low viscosity paraffinic base oils
Suwanie Wilathgamuwage Technical & New Business Development Manager
In an increasingly sustainability-conscious environment, industries face ever increasing challenges to behave in a sustainable manner or incorporate progressive improvements in their long term business strategies and infrastructure.
In the automotive fuels sector, legislation has already had a great impact. Directive 2003/30/EC, and later Directive 2009/28/EC requires the EU Member States to introduce legislation and take the necessary measures to ensure that biofuels account for a minimum proportion of the fuel sold in their territories. In the context of sustainable development in Europe and the Green Paper ‘Towards a European strategy for the security of energy supply’, the Commission is proposing an action plan aimed at increasing the share of biofuels to more than 20% of European petrol and diesel consumption by 2020.
Diesel fuel is derived globally from a plethora of crude oils and intermediate gas oils. It is from these processes that sometimes light paraffinic base oils are produced. These are ultimately utilised in numerous industries. Due to the variability in crude, the end product can experience some compositional variability. The legislative aspect of sustainability in the chemical industry is yet to gain momentum. However, numerous non-petroleum alternatives are starting to emerge, such as bio-esters and hydrogenated vegetable oils (HVO). In addition, the industry is becoming more ‘sustainability aware’. Certifications such as EcoVadis and Blue Angel are starting to gain impetus as companies endeavour to prove sustainability and environmental friendliness.
One of the strategies to achieve this is the use of plant derived refinery products, such as hydrogenated vegetable oils which are mainly paraffinic in nature. These can be refined into specialised narrow boiling point ranges and viscosities to provide sustainable and tailored options for different industries. These oils have
proven suitable and can act as a sustainable replacement for petroleum-derived paraffinic oils for applications ranging from metal working fluids, spark erosion, aluminium rolling, organic extenders (for example, in silicon sealants), as heat transfer media and many more. This article will outline the organic source, production process and subsequent applications of these HVO base oils.
Haltermann Carless, together with Neste Corporation, has pioneered the path towards a sustainable alternative to crude oil derived speciality chemicals. The HVO is produced at Neste’s refineries by a hydro-isomerisation process of ISCC certified Crude Palm Oil and other renewable raw materials. Typically, the resulting HVO is very low in aromatics, sulphur and metals and the isomerisation process determines that the product is predominantly iso-paraffinic.
Haltermann Carless subsequently refines this HVO into several products, differentiated by their boiling ranges and resulting in products sold under the Ecoline trade name. Below is a list of their typical properties.
These Ecoline products are ideal for use in applications mentioned above and many more where stable, low viscosity iso-paraffinic base oils are a core requirement.
Continued on page 16 14 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.128 AUGUST 2015
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