The next heavy-duty diesel engine oil standard is not due to hit the market for another month, but the following upgrade is already beginning to take shape. The ASTM panel drafting the PC-10 specification recently approved the first-ever chemical limits for diesel oils. Observers say those limits will sharply curtail the use of popular additives when PC-10 makes its market debut in two years. The standard could also further reduce applications for Group I base oils. To date, diesel engine oils h...

The lubricant additive businesses of Lubrizol Corp. and the former Ethyl Corp. both posted healthy financial gains for the second quarter, thanks to robust sales and success in passing through higher costs. Quaker Chemical also recorded a sales jump but watched its profit fall because its own price hikes did not keep pace with raw materials costs. Lubrizol, of Wickliffe, Ohio, reported July 28 that it had operating income of $72.8 million from its lubricant additive segment for the three-month p...

Plastic blow-molder Graham Packaging Co. said last week that it has agreed to buy the plastics container business unit of Owens-Illinois Inc. for $1.2 billion. The acquisition would more than double the size of one of the biggest suppliers of motor oil bottles. We have long admired Owens-Illinois, said Philip R. Yates, chairman and CEO of Graham Packaging. O-Is plastics container business is a good match with Graham Packaging in terms of its emphasis on technology, commitment to high quality, an...

The worlds largest manufacturer of constant velocity jointed sideshafts said last week that it has opened a Detroit area tribology laboratory to study how greases and other lubricants perform on its products. GKN Driveline built the lab by renovating space at its existing Research and Product Development Center in Auburn Hills, Mich. The company, a division of GKN Plc., said it spent $220,000 to outfit the lab, partly with equipment previously used at other facilities. Dr. Gareth Fish, head of g...