Biobased lubricants have been heavily debated in the industry, and opinions are divided on their capabilities and future uses. Major hurdles to their wider application, according to Otto Botz, product manager for biolubricants at Rowe Minerallwerk GmbH, are higher capital costs compared with mineral oil products and the fact that their technical and economic benefits are still largely unknown.
To gain a better perspective on the prospects for biobased lubricants, LubesnGreases interviewed Botz to examine the reasons for this situation. Only the well-informed user will opt for biobased lubricants, said Botz. Rowe sees major potential in this sector and is expanding its product range with biobased lubricants for hydraulic, transmission, metalworking and food processing applications.
Steady Expansion
Rowe is a relative newcomer to the lubricants business, established in February 1995 in Flrsheim-Dalsheim, Rheinhessen, Germany, by Michael Zehe. By spring 2000, the company had expanded and moved to Bubenheim, Palatinate. In the spring of 2013, Rowe moved its headquarters again to Worms.
The company says the plant, which occupies 82,000 square meters, is one of the largest and most modern oil facilities in Europe. It comprises 32 mixing tanks and six state-of-the-art filling lines and is certified to DIN EN ISO 9001:2008, ISO/TS 16949:2009 and ISO 14001.
Botz said, Besides Germany, we serve customers in Southern and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and South America. In addition to engine and transmission oils, antifreeze and car care products, he added, Rowe offers a comprehensive line of metalworking lubricants.
Rowe has offered a line of biolubricants for metalworking and hydraulic applications for several years and plans to expand its range of biobased lubricants significantly in 2014. Botz explained that a synthesis of estimates and forecasts from our own research and that of industry experts shows there is a renewed interest in biolubricants due to their superior performance properties and environmental benefits. We expect the biolubricants market is to take an increased share of the lubricant market and to double over the next ten years.
A Look at the Issues
To gain a better perspective on the future of the biolubricants market, we asked Botz to address the following questions.
LNG: Opinion on the market potential of biobased lubricants is divided within the industry. What is the role of biobased lubricants from your point of view?
Botz: At times of soaring energy prices and growing environmental concerns, energy conservation and the reduction of carbon emissions are playing an ever more important role. New, innovative biobased lubricants are making a contribution to boosting energy efficiency and alleviating the environmental burden.
With a market share of roughly 10 percent in hydraulic fluids, there is still huge untapped market potential. We at Rowe are concentrating our efforts to expand the application of biobased hydraulic lubricants. For example, in the food processing industry, the aim is to offer customers more than just one bio-oil product, thereby boosting customer benefits. We are positive that this will be a successful approach to securing new market share.
LNG: Why do you take a more optimistic view of the market potential of biolubricants than other lubricant manufacturers?
Botz: Rowes biolubricants are formulated with base stocks derived from high-oleic sunflower oil. This renewable feedstock originates from sustainable and European production and has excellent lubricity. Lubricants formulated with high-oleic technology offer excellent properties while being competitively priced.
Rowes biobased lubricants can also be certified for use in the food processing industry. This means that certain bio-oils can be used in all applications requiring food-grade lubricants that meet the requirements of the United States Food and Drug Administration for H1-certified oils.
LNG: What are your reasons for concentrating on food-grade lubricants?
Botz: Talks with our customers have shown that this sector offers great potential for high-quality lubricants. There is a constantly growing demand in the food processing industry for lubricants providing adequate drain intervals. Rowe offers H1-certified biobased hydraulic fluids that are recommended and approved by well-known equipment manufacturers. Combining environmental compatibility with food-grade certification, these lubricants allow our customers to consolidate products and save costs in inventory management.
LNG: What do you see as the primary application areas for biolubricants?
Botz: Biolubricants are best employed to various degrees to minimize life cycle environmental impacts compared to mineral based lubricants. Nearly 50 percent of all traditional lubricants are released into the environment during use via leakage, spills and disposal. These releases cause environmental impacts that could be reduced with the use of biolubricants.
Mineral oil based lubricants are highly toxic compared to biolubricants. Therefore, new and used mineral oil lubricants can cause significant damage to the environment, especially to water resources.
LNG: Your selling points are superior energy efficiency and economics. How does this work in practice?
Botz: Thanks to the chemical-physical properties of the base stocks, our lubricants feature high viscosity indexes, superior pressure-viscosity behavior and optimum friction properties. Taken together, these features result in reduced friction forces and a higher volumetric efficiency in hydraulic pumps or transmissions, translating into reduced energy consumption. We have demonstrated these advantages in full-scale applications, partly in cooperation with leading German equipment manufacturers.
LNG: What about feedstock supply barriers? In other words, is the existing area under high-oleic sunflower cultivation sufficient to meet the demand and could this hamper continuous market growth?
Botz: One hectare of HOS will yield approximately one ton of lubricants. Germany has a cropland area of approximately 17 million hectares. Assuming an optimistic biolubricant share of 25 percent in the total market in the long term, only about 1.5 percent of existing cropland would be needed for HOS production. Thus, there are no hurdles to further market penetration.
LNG: Isnt there a conflict of interest between biolubricants and food supply?
Botz: With the feedstock used for our oils, we do not see any problems in this field. The renewable HOS feedstock derives from sustainable and European agricultural production. This vegetable feedstock is predominantly used for engineering and cosmetics applications.
Frequently, biobased lubricants have a useful life of several years in equipment. They reduce the primary energy consumption of the equipment and afford extended equipment and lubricant service lives. Consequently, the use of HOS is not only a technologically superior solution but also is sustainable and helps conserve resources.
This is in sharp contrast with high-volume biofuels that are burned in the engine without any significant technological advantage and melt into thin air. This is why we are very positive about the outlook for the growth of this market segment not only from ecological and economic but also from societal aspects. This is our position for tackling the market and facing up to critical aspects in the public debate.
LNG: How do you see your medium and long-term market position?
Botz: Rowe has set the target of becoming an established supplier of high-quality food-grade biolubricants. A major share of our new product range is already H1 certified, and an application for the EU Ecolabel is currently under way. We want to take a leadership role for our customers and be able to offer tailor-made solutions to match their technological and ecological needs.