Nyco announced yesterday that it has begun producing its first line of additives from a new unit at its Tournai, Belgium, synthetic lubes and ester base stocks manufacturing facility.
The French specialty lubricants firm said the expansion of the Tournai plant cost 2.5 million (U.S. $2.7 million). Paris-based Nyco produces both synthetic ester base stocks as well as finished lubricants, but the new unit marks its first foray into additives manufacturing.
The unit will primarily make antioxidants and coking inhibitors, but is capable of making others, too, Nyco spokeswoman Carole Bersillon-Morris told Lube Report. The unit has capacity to produce between 2 metric tons and 2.5 tons of additives per batch, she said, but noted that its annual production capacity depends on the chemicals being produced.
Photo: Nyco
The additives will be used in aviation and industrial lubricants and will be used partly for Nycos own formulations.
For example, Bersillon-Morris noted that Nyco has developed high-temperature antioxidant and antiwear additives that will go into its new turbine oil formulated for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter jet. This is the most powerful military engine ever built, and it offers unique lubrication challenges due to its high operating temperature and the use of corrosion-resistant alloys enriched in chromium.
We are not competing with the well-known additive manufacturers, but are bringing to the market unique performance additives that have shown a tremendous synergy with our ester base stocks and are not available from other manufacturers, said Eric Piveteau, Nycos general manager.
The additives will also be sold to lubricant blenders. Our business is made of 80 percent export sales, and we sell to more than 100 countries, Bersillon-Morris continued. It means these products can potentially be marketed anywhere in the world, thanks to our seven affiliate offices and our network of agents and distributors. Nyco has two other production facilities in Russia and India.
Nyco said its core markets are aeronautics, defense and industry, and it claims to be the sole European producer of aviation lubricants. Its structured into two business units: aeronautics and defense; and industrial and automotive. Examples of some of its other products include wheel-bearing grease for commercial airlines and food-grade ester base stocks for lubricants used in food processing.
Independent and privately owned, Nycos 2014 sales surpassed 80 million.