Lubricants are also working to become sustainable

Lubricants are one of the many by-products of the oil and chemical industry's processing cycles, and so seem to have little to do with sustainability and respect for the environment. However, thanks to new technologies, some progress has been made in this direction.

There are advanced lubricants that reduce fuel consumption (on average by between 2.5 and 3%) and improve engine efficiency. In addition, many other aspects of raw material extraction, processing and packaging are moving in a more environmentally-friendly direction. This data comes from the Union for Energy for Mobility's (UNEM) "Lubricants and Sustainability Report 2024", to which Petronas Lubricants International, the Petronas division that manufactures and markets lubricants and functional fluids worldwide, also contributed.

The importance of raw materials

According to the 2024 report, the development of oils that are much more fluid than those of the previous generation has made it possible to reduce the amount of energy needed to run the engine, resulting in energy savings of between 2.5% and 3%. These figures are small, but multiplied by the tens of millions of vehicles on the road in the UK and Europe, they translate into significant reductions not only in greenhouse gas emissions, but also in pollutant emissions.

Even the use of raw materials (lubricant bases) from the circular economy, such as oils obtained from the regeneration of exhausted mineral oils, i.e. at the end of their life cycle, reduces the environmental impact, contributing to the decarbonisation of the supply chain from the point of view of life cycle analysis (LCA).

The importance of the circular economy

The impacts of the lubricant oil production chain on climate change occur, in fact, mainly during the extraction and processing of raw materials because, the report explains, a large amount of energy is used, a lot of water is needed and production residues have to be managed.

It is therefore necessary to use crops that do not compete with the food chain, and a list of substances and raw materials (luSC List - Lubricant Substance Classification) has been published, which has been assessed on the basis of parameters with a low impact on the environment.

A multi-pronged approach

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In lubricant production, the use of energy from renewable sources is also becoming widespread, and in packaging, priority is being given to the use of 100% recyclable packaging (generally made of PE, PET or steel).

Ultimately, what emerges from the 2024 report is that there is no "single solution for a sustainable lubricant. All the guidelines illustrated only lead to a truly sustainable approach if they are implemented simultaneously".

Read also:

More and more carmakers are recycling metals: here's how and why

Even car manufacturers are planting trees to offset CO2 emissions

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