Additives

Tianhe Chemicals last week conducted a long-awaited stock offering aimed at raising funds to repay debt and invest in product development of its lubri ...

Japans Sanyo Chemical Industries Ltd. will build a plant in Jiangsu Province, China, with capacity to produce 5,000 tons per year of viscosity index i ...

Need To Know

June 2, 2014

Tom Glenn raises a red flag about the price increases being pushed along by lubricant additive suppliers.

Seeing an open door to the world's lubricant markets, these young additive companies are eager to expand their reach beyond China's borders.

BASF and Sinopec will build a neopentylglycol plant at their joint venture petrochemicals complex in Nanjing, China. NPG is used as a building block i ...

Megatrends for Grease

May 27, 2014

A look inside Germanys market for lubricating greases shows a healthy recovery. It also underscores the challenges facing grease manufacturers worldwi ...

The additives maker has anted up a hefty $150 million to build a salicylate plant in Singapore. And it says a new plant in China wont be far behind.

Gasoline direct-injection engines, many with turbochargers, will be in over half of new cars by 2020. Are formulators facing a physical cliff of oxida ...

As greasemakers eye the next round of EU chemical registrations, some may need to weed out specialty products that dont support the cost of compliance ...

Metalworking fluid manufacturers are waiting - and waiting - to learn if EPA will put restrictions on one of their favorite extreme-pressure agents.

Automotive

May 27, 2014

Last December, I wrote that one of the perks of writing a column like this is the response from readers. Believe it or not, I enjoy the feedback. Ofte ...

Is That Really My Oil?

May 22, 2014

Petroleum products can be a magnet for theft, counterfeiting, adulteration, commingling and other abuses. Battling such fraud is the mission of a secr ...

Rolling Forward

May 22, 2014

Global steel makers continue to consolidate, rationalize, and scrutinize the performance of their rolling mills. That spells opportunity for lubricant ...

Bad News for Biocides?

May 22, 2014

As EPA and the National Research Council exchange shots over formaldehydes effects on human health, metalworking fluids are caught in the crossfire.

Getting Moly-fied

May 22, 2014

Long prized by grease formulators as extreme-pressure agents, molybdenum is increasingly tapped for its friction-easing properties.

A new study sees antioxidants, friction modifiers and PPD racing ahead in this $10 billion market, as antiwear agents and detergents lag the field.

While some lubricants need only a single component, such as a rust inhibitor, engine oils demand a complex mix of chemistries. The key additives expla ...

Automotive

May 21, 2014

As many of you readers know, I drive a 2001 GMC Sierra 1500 pickup truck with a 4.8-liter V-8 engine. Im not a heavy driver, with 83,000 miles at the ...

Beginning this year, Europes chemical regulation will generate reams of safety data, and even companies beyond the Continent will face a thorny dilemm ...

From prevention to remediation, here are the basic tools and knowledge you need to get the upper hand on microorganisms in lubes and metalworking flui ...