NYNASHAMN, Sweden – By 2019, naphthenic oils are expected to account for 12 percent of the worlds projected total base oil demand of 36 million metric tons per year, according to a forecast presented at an industry event here last week.
In 2014, naphthenic oils had a 10 percent share of the global base oil market, an official from Swedish refiner Nynas told the Swedish Tribodyas conference. But while overall base oil demand stagnates, pale oil demand is expected to rise as lubricant blenders look for substitutes for Group I base stocks vanishing from the European market. Nynas, which produces naphthenic oils, says straight or blended naphthenics are the primary Group I substitutes in industrial applications.
Developments in the automotive industry such as emissions reduction and fuel economy will push the demand for [API] Group II and Group III base oils from 11 and 34 percent, respectively [in 2014] to 13 and 48 percent, respectively by 2019, Luis Bastardo-Zambrano told the conference. By the same time, Group I base oils are expected to diminish from their current 44 percent share to just 26 percent.
Zambrano, Nynas technical development and market support manager, cited data from LubesnGreases magazine, SBA consultancy and the German lube maker Fuchs Petrolub.
Global naphthenic capacity grew from 81,000 barrels per day in 2007 to about 90,000 bpd in 2014, he said. Naphthenic oils fall within the API Group V category of base oils.
In 2013, global lubricant demand stood at around 40 million tons, with automotive applications accounting for 56 percent of that number and industrial applications the remaining 44 percent.
Zambrano cited Fuchs estimates that global naphthenic demand was 3.6 million tons in 2014. Of that volume, 30 percent was used in finished lubricants and greases, 40 percent as process oils and 30 percent as transformer oils.
In the lubricant industry, naphthenics are used in lubricating greases, metalworking fluids, or as components of other industrial oils such as hydraulic fluids and gear oils, Zambrano said. He added that in in the power generation industry, the transformer oils are used as insulating oils in electrical transformers.
The largest share of naphthenic oils are used is in process oils and the tire industry. Main applications here include adhesives and sealants, printing inks, battery separators, insoluble sulfur and antifoams. In the tire industry, they are used as extender oils in the processing of tire rubber and oil extended polymers, Zambrano said.
In Europe, the naphthenic oils market is characterized by the growing need for this product in the production of specialties, according to Nynas. At the moment, the specialty products niche comprises around a 20 percent share of the naphthenics market, while in 1999 it was only a 10 percent share, Thomas Norrby, the companys senior technical adviser for lubricants, told the conference.
Nynas found that the ongoing closings of Group I capacity could lead to availability issues for Group I heavy neutrals and bright stocks. As the availability for these products is expected to be tight, high viscosity and solvent naphthenic blends can replace them, Norrby said. They can be applied in industrial lubricant formulations because they are most similar to the Group I oils.
In an attempt to help fill the shortage of heavy Group I oils, Nynas launched Nybase-branded specialty oils, blends of paraffinics and naphthenics. They are pitched mostly for use in industrial lubricants. The company claims that Nybase oils have kinematic viscosity and aniline points similar to Group I oils but that Nybase oils have slightly higher volatility, slightly lower flash points and slightly lower viscosity indices.
Nynas operates a naphthenic base oil plant in Nynashamn, Sweden, with capacity of 7,600 bpd. The companys Harburg, Germany, plant has 2,800 b/d naphthenic and 3,300 b/d of Group I capacity. Nynas produces around 20 percent of the global pale oil supply, the company said.