FAMOUS FOR GREASE

Ukraine is famous worldwide for its grease research and its grease production, Oleg Makedonsky of Berdyansk, Ukraine-based Azmol told the conference. Ukraine itself is a big market, and grease exports play an important role.

With a population of 46 million, total land mass of nearly 604,000 cubic kilometers, and a developed industrial base, particularly in its eastern regions, Ukraine is well situated to support a growing economy and a growing grease industry. Mining and metallurgy, transport and machine-building industries are the major grease consumers in Ukraine, said Makedonsky, speaking through a translator.

Official state data provide no answer to questions about how much grease is produced in Ukraine or how many companies make it. The only known fact is that one production company is state-owned – Azmol – and all the rest are private, he said. Its believed that about 50 percent of the grease market consists of shadow production, so it is recommended to check on the status and reliability of a potential partner in Ukraine before doing business.

Azmol estimates that grease demand in Ukraine was about 20,000 metric tons in 2008. Steelmaking and other metallurgy is the biggest user, consuming 43 percent, followed by the automobile/ transit industry with 18 percent and mining with 16 percent.

The greases produced in Ukraine are changing rapidly, Makedonsky continued. Hydrated calcium grease no longer dominates, and lithium grease consumption is rising. Ukraine step by step is approaching the average European level, he said, but at the same time, complex lithium grease [demand] remains very low. Production by base oil type has changed very little in recent years, with mineral base oils still accounting for 99.6 percent of the market. Silicone fluids, polyalphaolefins and synthetic esters together hold the remaining sliver.

Fully 65 percent of all greases are pack-aged in drums, most commonly 210 or 60 cubic decimeter sizes. Pails, cans, cartridges and tubes meet the need for small-er packages.

In a typical steel plant, said Makedon-sky, calcium greases generally make up 70 percent of total grease consumption. Lithium and complex lithium greases are generally less than 17 percent, with a range of other greases making up the difference. Ukraines state railway monopoly is another big market, where lithium greases typically hold a strong 31 percent, sodium and calcium greases account for about 26 percent each, and non-soap and other greases make up the remainder. Although we can see the predominance of relatively cheap and old grease types in railroad applications, he noted, lithium greases share almost reaches one-third and is rising at the expense of sodium greases.

Grease production in Ukraine considerably exceeds domestic demand, Makedonsky said. An essential amount is exported, particularly to Commonwealth of Independent States member countries, Europe, Asia and Africa. Lithium greases make up a much larger share of exports than of domestic consumption. Grease imports amount to less than 1,500 tons per year.

With the end of the global economic crisis, Ukraine possesses a good potential for growth and structural changes, Makedonsky concluded. A highly qualified and low-cost workforce would welcome more modern grease manufacturing. With a new team in charge of our state, we expect Ukraine to become more attractive for investors, and hope that Ukrainian grease manufacturers will fit into these programs.

RUSSIA LOOKS AHEAD – FAR AHEAD

Azmol was Russias big grease supplier before the fall of the Soviet Union, Alexander Danilov, deputy director general of the Moscow-based All-Russia Research Institute of Oil Refining (VNIINP), told the ELGI meeting. After the U.S.S.R. ceased to exist, grease production in Russia encountered a number of difficulties. Azmol had produced more than half of Russias supply, and possessed the most advanced grease technology. In addition, with industrial production in a tail-spin in the 1990s, grease demand plummeted.

As the economy recovered after the crisis of 1998, modern foreign technologies were introduced, but foreign equipment was accompanied with its own lubrication charts. In this way, Russian greases were excluded from the market, although they were not always unacceptable.

At the beginning of the 1990s, said Danilov, grease production in Russia was about 100,000 tons per year. At the present time, it is only 45,000 to 50,000 tons per year, with no tendency to grow.

The Perm grease and cutting oil plant is Russias largest today, followed by the Rostov (Rikos), Sibneft and Orenburg plants. In 2009, Danilov noted, Slavnefts Yaroslavsky oil refinery ceased grease production.

In addition to the larger grease produc-ers, there are several dozen small plants in Russia, including Rosneft and Neft-eprodukt, that produce small volumes of special purpose greases. And VNIINP, the Electrogorsk Institute and a few other organizations conduct research and pilot-scale production. Unfortunately, there are also companies that claim to be grease producers but which resell others production, and in the worst case, said Danilov, pirate production of expensive greases under VNIINP and other authoritative companies brands. Generally these products are of low quality.

In Russia today, grease is at a low level of development. Our goal is to upgrade and replace imports, Danilov continued, saying he believes that the ratio of imports to domestic grease is about one-to-one now. Imports are higher quality.

Some positive changes have occurred in Russias grease production, he continued, including a reduction in production of hydrated calcium greases and growth in lithium grease production. Nevertheless, this can hardly be called a big achievement, because the greases that form the basis of leading industrial countries recent assortment – complex lithium, complex aluminum, organic thickeners, and others – are not produced or are produced in small quantities, said Danilov.

How can Russia improve its greases, he asked, when standards in Russia are not strict, so lower quality greases dominate? We must improve our quality evaluations and standards, to harmonize with international standards and to minimize counterfeit production.

VNIINP is conducting research on high-quality greases, particularly greases designed for special operating conditions, including wide temperature ranges and contact with aggressive media, Danilov said. We are producing greases for aerospace, aircraft and medical applications, in small quantities, and some exceed the quality of foreign greases.

But the production of such greases is only possible in certain plants, with the required technological and analytical equipment and highly qualified staff, he went on. They are usually produced on a pilot-plant basis or under the surveillance of the developers, under license contracts.

Our biggest issue, Danilov concluded, is the technological equipment in factories. Old equipment prevails, and Russia needs 10 or 20 years to upgrade its grease.

The most complicated problem requiring solving is modernization of technologyand our raw material base.