When liquid crystals come up in discussion, its usually about wristwatches, computer monitors or flat screen televisions. If a German research team succeeds in its plans, liquid crystal lubricants may eventually join the list. Researchers with the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM in Freiburg, Germany, are investigating which liquid crystals are most suitable for use as lubricants, and under what conditions. The effort is a joint project with the Fraunhofer Institute for Appli...

Green Earth Technologies G-Oil motor oil, which is made with domestic animal fat by-products from the meat processing industry instead of traditional mineral base oils, recently passed the engine test criteria for the APIs SM Certification. While the motor oil has passed the engine tests, it has not formally received API certification. Stamford, Conn.-based Green Earth has submitted a license application, according to Kevin Ferrick, API’s engine oil licensing program manager. They are goi...

DUBAI – Stimulated by the countrys ongoing economic surge, lubricant demand in the United Arab Emirates has nearly doubled in the past two years, according to an Emirates National Oil Co. official who addressed an industry conference here. The nations blending capacity, which already had an enormous surplus, has risen at a similar pace, said Thangavel Rathina Kumar, manager of lubricants technology for Enoc Lubricants. As a result, the capacity overhang has swollen to more than 800,000 met...

Six months after it opened, following a two-year closure, the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Co. has been closed again. The subsidiary of Nigerias national oil company, which also includes the countrys only base oil plant, closed after vandals damaged its pipelines. Pipelines supplying crude oil from Nigerias oil-rich Niger Delta region to the countrys three refineries have become targets of vandalism by oil thieves and restive youths in recent times. Nigerian authorities are worried about t...

ExxonMobil will increase the sales allocations on some polyalphaolefin-formulated automotive and industrial lubricants effective Dec. 1, a company spokeswoman said yesterday. Sales allocations went into effect Oct. 1 on a variety of Mobil 1 synthetic lubricants due to the continued shutdown of the Beaumont, Texas, ExxonMobil Chemical PAO plant. The plant is expected to resume operations at years end. ExxonMobil Chemical has made use of their global supply capabilities to give its Beaumont-supp...

HOUSTON – For many applications, API Group II base oils are the same as Group III, and Group II improves formulating economics in mainstream products, contended a Chevron Global Base Oils executive at last weeks NPRA International Lubricants and Waxes Meeting here. Youre better off if you can find Group II solutions to Group III problems, said Doug Bea, global base oil project manager with Group II producer Chevron, based in San Ramon, Calif. The posted price differential between Group II...