Why does the lubricant market need a product like EHC 340 MAX?

The need for EHC 340 MAX stems from the challenge of providing high-performing extra-heavy neutral base stocks for the heavy-duty lubricant market at scale.

The demand for extra-heavy neutral base stocks in their key applications is generally expected to remain robust through 2040. More specifically, the demand for extra-heavy neutral base stocks in engine oils will likely decrease due to lower-viscosity trends, but this is expected to be largely offset by the need for more greases and industrial oils. This rise in demand is due to increasing industrialization in Asia-Pacific and other growing regions. In addition, the demand for marine oils remains stable, as they support the ongoing global trade of goods and materials.  

At the same time, global bright stock supply, which has historically answered the need for heavy base stocks, declined by more than 20% from 2010 to 2024. This is because Group I base stock production sites are traditionally smaller, produce a range of various Group I grades and often depend on integration with a company’s fuels businesses. As these business owners look at their long-term options, and given the decline in demand for other Group I base stocks, they must decide whether to invest in the continued maintenance and upkeep of their Group I base stock production, leading to a downward pressure on Group I bright stock capacity that is expected to continue.

How was ExxonMobil suited to take on this long-standing challenge?         

The rationalization of Group I bright stock capacity is expected to continue in future years, elevating concerns about supply security. Yet, currently available alternatives, such as naphthenics or synthetic polymers, have various performance deficits compared to Group I products and can increase costs for lubricant manufacturers.

The industry has largely responded to the rationalization of Group I production by increasing the supply of Group II and II+ products. However, before the development of EHC 340 MAX, there was no Group II production in the extra-heavy neutral base stock category that could supply the industry’s growing bright stock supply tightness—the reason being that it has been technologically challenging to produce Group II base stocks that can cover the higher-viscosity spaces. This is because Group II manufacturing processes are typically designed for VGO feedstocks and cannot economically handle extremely heavy feedstocks, significantly limiting the viscosity and scale for any extra-heavy neutral base stocks that could be produced. 

However, through ExxonMobil’s proprietary resid upgrade process, we have been able to overcome this limitation and can now produce an extra-heavy neutral Group II product at world scale that meets viscosity needs typically met by a Group I bright stock.

With its history of handling a high volume of bottom-of-barrel products, our existing Singapore refinery was uniquely positioned to leverage new technology that lets us convert resid into cleaner fuels and high-value lubricant base stocks. In addition, this integrated manufacturing complex should provide better supply resiliency compared to some unintegrated and aging Group I bright stock production facilities.

On top of industry needs and manufacturing complexities, were there other considerations or challenges that went into designing EHC 340 MAX?  

Along with viscosity control during production, it is equally difficult and important to control composition as we convert poor-quality resid to high-quality base stocks at scale. The industry has successfully met this quality challenge to produce high-quality Group II and Group III base stocks. Our task was to meet the same challenge for extra-heavy neutral Group II base stock. 

Base stock composition and specifications play a crucial role in achieving the quality that lubricant manufacturers need to formulate high-performance lubricants. Our experts have used their deep technical understanding of base stocks to design EHC 340 MAX as a compositionally differentiated product compared to a typical bright stock. 

These compositional differences are clearly visible using advanced compositional characterization techniques. For example, one technique shows that Group I bright stock has mono-ring and multi-ring aromatics that are nearly absent in EHC 340 MAX. As a result, EHC 340 MAX provides superior oxidative stability, extending the finished lubricant’s lifetime and enhancing its performance.  

Similarly, we can compare the content of waxy hydrocarbon molecules present in EHC 340 MAX and a bright stock. Such a comparison shows that while a typical Group I bright stock contains a high number of waxy molecules that crystallize below the pour point, the near absence of crystallizable molecules below pour point in EHC 340 MAX enables lubricants blended with the Group II base stock to perform better in challenging operating conditions at low temperatures. 

EHC 340 MAX is clearly innovative, but how do the product’s compositional attributes translate into benefits for customers? 

EHC 340 MAX is an innovative product that will extend the reach of our EHC Group II/II+ product line into high-viscosity lubricant spaces, such as automotive and industrial gear oils, greases, marine and circulation oils, along with high-viscosity engine oil lubricants. By bringing the quality benefits of Group II base stocks to those applications, EHC 340 MAX provides numerous performance benefits compared to a bright stock:

• EHC 340 MAX has a higher typical viscosity than a bright stock. This will ensure that it can be used to formulate ISO 460 lubricants without the need for any additional thickener. For lower viscosity products, it can be used at a lower treat rate compared to a bright stock.
• It has a higher viscosity index than a bright stock, allowing lubricant formulators to lower the treat rate of PIB, PMA or other viscosity modifiers. This can not only improve formulation cost but also offer improved shear stability. 
• It has a significantly lower pour point compared to a bright stock, which allows for improved low-temperature fluidity and can reduce the amount of pour point depressants by up to 50%, reducing costs, complexity and the risk of adverse impacts on shear stability. 
• As EHC 340 MAX is a Group II base stock, it has higher saturate contents than a bright stock. This allows for improved oxidative stability in lubricants, which could translate to better equipment durability, longer lubricant lifetime and/or lower antioxidant treat rates, depending on the formulator’s goals.
• The low aromatics composition of EHC 340 MAX results in improved color. Unlike the dark brown color associated with a traditional bright stock, EHC 340 MAX is light yellow, an aesthetic that many lubricant formulators prefer.

Further, EHC 340 MAX has been performance tested in relation to other EHC Group II/II+ products in key engine oil tests (in addition to other lubricant performance testing). Based on these tests, we have expanded the slate declaration for our EHC Base Stocks Slate to include EHC 340 MAX. This EHC extended slate allows ExxonMobil customers to efficiently run engine test programs that encompass the entire lubricant viscosity range, an improvement over current practices that involve using both Group I and Group II products and therefore require additional test programs. In other words, EHC 340 MAX allows lubricant blenders to simplify their product development and operations while formulating products with consistent high-quality performance. 

EHC 340 MAX is clearly well designed to benefit lubricant marketers. How does ExxonMobil ensure the commercial product will perform as expected?

EHC 340 MAX development is the result of multiple years of R&D, with a carefully crafted product design to ensure acceptable performance in a broad range of mainstream applications. In the journey from ideation to realizing the commercial product, we weighed multiple technology options and conducted laboratory bench scale and pilot scale experiments, with representative feeds and following the same process steps as in the commercial unit, to prove out the technology. This allowed us to understand and build strict manufacturing controls and specifications, including certain proprietary measures to ensure product quality and integrity. 

Leveraging our deep technical understanding of base stock composition, we put a lot of a lot of time and care into developing proprietary compositional specifications, which correlate with meaningful performance metrics, as proven out by our rigorous and comprehensive performance testing across multiple lubricant applications.

This approach is part of our Brand and Product Integrity Management System. To ensure that product integrity remains consistent day in and day out, our approach goes beyond specifications, leveraging a proprietary product integrity system for all ExxonMobil base stocks. The same system has been applied to EHC 340 MAX. The years of R&D work behind this development and having this robust system in place for managing product integrity, give us the confidence to assure the performance consistency of EHC 340 MAX.

What role will EHC 340 MAX play in the industry? What excites you about EHC 340 MAX and the future of the base stocks and lubricants industries? 

In the immediate term, we expect some of the world’s largest lubricant manufacturers to embrace EHC 340 MAX, as it will help to mitigate uncertainties surrounding the supply of extra-heavy neutral base stocks. In addition to supply reliability, customers will be able to take advantage of the product’s performance and cost-saving benefits, helping them push boundaries and extending EHC 340 MAX’s potential beyond traditional spaces.

Ultimately, EHC 340 MAX, combined with other EHC products, brings the benefits of Group II base stocks to a wide range of lubricants. This enables new ways of formulating for better performance, better flexibility or lower costs. We are excited to see what new possibilities our customers unlock, such as longer oil drain intervals, leaner additive packages, and fluids that provide durability or longevity benefits as we march forward to meet society’s evolving needs.

Learn more about EHC 340 MAX at https://www.exxonmobil.com/en/basestocks/ehc-340-max.  

Rugved Pathare has 14 years of experience as a professional in the energy and chemicals industries and has held a variety of technical roles supporting the development of base stock and lubricant products across the globe. He is currently the technology leader for ExxonMobil’s Singapore Resid Upgrade Project and has been a leading contributor in the development of ExxonMobil’s new industry-changing EHC 340 MAX extra-heavy neutral base stock.