SUSTAINABILITY

By Miriam Wangari

A s sustainability campaign continues to pick pace around the world, different industries are changing ways of carrying out business, in order to align themselves with the global sustainability goals. Some of the major strides we see industries taking to be more sustainable are: a reduction in using plastic materials, emb racing recycling to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in the landfills and adopting renewable energy, thus, reducing over-reliance on fossil fuels.

In the automotive industry, there is a move towards vehicle electrification and major vehicle manufacturers have committed to only manufacturing Electric Vehicles (EVs) in the near future.

There is also a growing popularity in the use of alternative fuels like renewable diesel for automotive applications and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) for the aviation sector.

Seated at the heart of the automotive and industrial sectors are lubricants. So as to contribute to sustainability, lubricants formulations are changing and Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) are manufacturing biodegradable lubricants, carbon neutral lubricants, lubricants for EVs and lubricants formulated with either re-refined or plant-based base oils.

Lubricant formulations are also undergoing changes to perfectly align to sustainability drive. In this article, we focus on how base oils have been affected by sustainability.

In response to the increasingly stringent emissions requirements from regulatory bodies, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in the transportation sector have kept pace with the changes over the years through continuous innovation, including the introduction of smaller more efficient combustion engines and various after-treatment devices that help reduce emissions. The lubes industry on the other hand, has worked on improving lubricants formulations to cater for this new hardware. For instance, use of low viscosity lubricants is gaining traction due to their fuel efficiency benefits.

New trends are coming up where re-refined and plantbased base oils are gaining popularity. This is promoting sustainability and circular economy, reducing the amount of used oil ending up in the environment and also lowering dependence on fossil fuels.

These changes in the industry are having an impact on base oils whereby we see a reduced demand for group I base oils and a shift towards more uptake of base oil groups II, III, IV and V.

According to Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (ICIS) market lube data, the demand for Group I base oils is steadily reducing and consequentially, Group I refineries are shutting down thereby, further reducing the availability of the base oil and increasing the prices. This is pushing buyers to alternative base oil groups that are more pocket friendly. On the other hand, Group II demand has been steady while Group III demand is fast growing.

While demand will still be there for Group II and III, questions about the strain put on natural resources by continuous drilling for these oils continue to arise. The carbon footprint for drilling, processing and transporting these oils is raising concerns on whether other more environmentally friendly options should be explored.

As a result, we see new trends coming up where re-refined and plant-based base oils are gaining popularity. Re-refined base oils are made from used lubricants that have completed their life cycle and the next step would be disposing them. To promote sustainability and reduce the amount of used oil ending up in the environment, these used lubricants are repurposed into base oils. The used oils are pre-treated by filtration and vacuum distillation to remove particulates and resins, and spent oil distillates are hydro-processed to produce base oils that meet American Petroleum Institute (API) specifications. This promotes a circular economy and reduces the overall waste.

As changes in the automotive sector are happening, more sophisticated lubricants are required and synthetic base oils like Polyalphaolefin (PAO) base oils which are used in automotive fluids in extreme temperatures be it too hot or too cold, are increasingly being used to formulate lubricants. This and other synthetic base oils like esters provide a wide range of properties that are desirable to produce lubricants that are not only compatible with the new hardware being made, but also meet the regulations requirements set in place due to sustainability.

Some of these synthetic base oils are plant-based, and this is also working towards a more sustainable future where the over-reliance on fossil fuels is reducing. While mineral base oils will continue to be used in the next few decades, base oil manufacturers should consider producing sustainability oriented products if they are to remain competitive in the market and if they intend to offer solutions to emerging challenges and needs in the lubricants industry. .