In the world of grease, it’s a commonly known fact that lithium thickeners rule the market. But why is lithium so popular in grease formulation, and might its popularity peter out as grease makers develop other types of greases in the future?
To find answers to these questions and more, Lubes’n’Greases consulted grease experts from CITGO Petroleum Corporation Doug Rice and Sandy Cowan.
Lubes’n’Greases: What does demand for lithium grease look like right now? How are those demand figures projected to fluctuate over the next five years or so?
Rice and Cowan: According to the 2023 NLGI Grease Production Survey, lithium-based greases account for 58.28% of the grease production in North America and 57.33% of the global grease production. Lithium-based greases continue to account for more production than all other thickener types combined.
The price of lithium has significantly decreased from its peak prices. With the improved pricing and availability of lithium, it is likely that lithium complex grease will continue to be a popular choice because of its proven performance and competitive pricing.
Users of conventional lithium soap grease may continue to convert to lithium complex because this reduces the number of greases that need to be stocked, and consolidation reduces the chance of putting the wrong grease in an application. Other thickeners such as aluminum complex and calcium sulfonate may slowly gain market share in some applications.
Lubes’n’Greases: Which applications do lithium greases best fit? What make them so well suited for those uses?
Rice and Cowan: Properly formulated lithium and lithium complex greases work well in most applications. That characteristic has been a major contributing factor in the overwhelming popularity of lithium greases. Lithium greases have been used extensively in automotive, heavy-duty and industrial applications for decades.
Lubes’n’Greases: Lithium is a hot commodity these days. Are grease makers looking for alternative thickeners in the event that lithium becomes too expensive or too hard to acquire?
Rice and Cowan: Manufacturers have begun work with other thickener types to reduce their dependence upon lithium in that event. Thickeners that are being considered include aluminum complex and calcium sulfonate greases for high-temperature applications and anhydrous calcium greases for moderate temperature applications.
Lubes’n’Greases: What are the advantages of lithium greases over other types of thickeners?
Rice and Cowan: Lithium complex has excellent shear stability and excellent storage stability. It has a high dropping point, good flow characteristics and pumpability, is water resistant and is compatible with a high percentage of the thickeners on the market.
Conventional lithium greases have good water resistance, excellent storage and shear stability, good pumpability and flow characteristics, as well as compatibility with many other grease thickeners.
Both lithium complex and conventional lithium greases respond well to the wide variety of performance additives on the market and have low oil separation.
Lubes’n’Greases: What research and development is being done with lithium greases right now? In other words, what progress is being made to enhance the performance of these types of greases?
Rice and Cowan: Work is being done to develop greases that use less lithium, while they use lithium as the primary thickener. These
can include other soap types or polymers for thickening. In addition, work continues on greases that use dropping point enhancers
to reduce the amount of lithium required.
Lubes’n’Greases: Do you anticipate that end users might be hesitant to adopt other types of greases when lithium greases have been the top choice for some time? Why or why not?
Rice and Cowan: Most end users are resistant to change, especially when it comes to a grease that has been performing well. Issues with compatibility between different thickeners can require a complete flush of a system, which can be another barrier to change. While cost can be enough of an incentive for some to make a change, many will need to be convinced of a performance benefit before taking that step.
Sydney Moore is managing editor of Lubes’n’Greases magazine. Contact her at Sydney@LubesnGreases.com