ExxonMobil Chemical’s mPAO base stocks deliver our products with better performance and provide tangible benefits to our customers.” – Dr. Zhang Guanjun, executive president, Tianjin Sure Energy Ltd.

By Lindsey Bunting, Global Market Development, Synthetic base stocks

Challenge: Successfully create lubricants to meet customer requirements

China is among world’s top three wind energy producers. The government is heavily promoting the use of environmentally friendly energy sources, helping the wind industry to thrive. China’s goal is to install more than 210GW of wind energy capacity by 2020.

Only a handful of lubricant manufacturers serve the industry, which is known for its high technical barriers to entry. Manufacturers are producing larger turbines with greater output capacity, demanding increasingly complex lubrication capabilities. Lubricants are required to work for the expected service life of machinery and better protect equipment to prevent unscheduled maintenance downtime.

Tianjin Sure Energy knew that entering the market would be challenging but wanted to seize the business opportunity by developing high-performance wind turbine lubricants.

Solution: Products, services and support from ExxonMobil

Experts from ExxonMobil recommended using SpectraSyn Elite metallocene polyalphaolefin (mPAO) 150 and 300 base stocks, which offer high performance at a wide temperature range, shear stability for long drain intervals and low-temperature properties for cold-start fluidity.

These performance benefits help wind farms reduce oil changes, enhance component life and increase equipment availability. Tianjin Sure Energy formulators also received ongoing technical assistance from the ExxonMobil support team.

Result: Grew business by providing high-quality wind turbine lubricants

Tianjin Sure Energy overcame technical barriers in the wind power industry with help from SpectraSyn Elite mPAO base stocks and ExxonMobil expertise. The company’s new high-performance specialty lubricants delivered outstanding performance, even under challenging conditions.

Learn more about our synthetic base stocks for Wind application.

Visit exxonmobilchemical.com/synthetics to see the many ways we can help your business.

Sponsored content by ExxonMobil Synthetics

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Why sacrifice wear protection for energy efficiency?

By Lindsey Bunting, Global Market Development, Synthetic base stocks

Manufacturing lubricants for the wind industry provides plenty of opportunities – and challenges. To compete in the marketplace, your lubricants must meet increasing demand for long drain intervals and reliable performance in extreme conditions, especially in low temperatures. They must handle larger loads from larger turbines in smaller gear boxes.

To help you meet and exceed these demands, we provide state-of-the-art synthetic base stocks, including next-generation SpectraSyn Elite metallocene polyalphaolefin (mPAO), developed using our proprietary metallocene catalyst technology. SpectraSyn Elite mPAO provides higher viscosity index (VI), enhanced film thickness, improved low temperature fluidity and lower foaming than conventional high viscosity PAOs.

Wind turbine gear oil

Wind turbine power generation capacity and turbine size are both increasing, which drives wind power’s competitiveness by reducing the levelized cost of electricity. However, increasing power generation increases the loads on the gearbox and bearings, which increases the stress on the lubricants needed to protect the equipment.

Going up-tower costs your wind industry customers money. That’s why they want long-lasting gear oil that minimizes maintenance while enhancing equipment life and reliability. Lubricant manufacturers must formulate lubricants that improve gearbox reliability by providing advanced micropitting and wear protection, as well as foam performance, so your customers can extend drain intervals even in more extreme operating environments.

Wind turbine grease

As wind turbines increase in size they are utilizing centralized grease distribution systems for their main and pitch bearings, especially in extreme temperatures and remote locations. Your customers demand grease that lasts longer and performs better, minimizing maintenance costs while maximizing equipment reliability and productivity. To help you manufacture wind turbine grease that can meet these challenges, we provide world-class synthetic base stocks, including SpectraSyn Elite  metallocene polyalphaolefin (mPAO).

High-performance metallocene polyalphaolefin (mPAO)
Demand continues to grow for lubricants that offer greater energy efficiency, longer drain intervals, better performance in a wider temperature range and increased durability even under severe conditions. To meet these demands, formulators turn to SpectraSyn Elite metallocene polyalphaolefin (mPAO) synthetic base stocks.

Available in 65, 150 and 300 cSt at 100°C, SpectraSyn Elite mPAO is created using our proprietary metallocene catalyst technology. Particularly well-suited for industrial oils requiring high stability under severe operating conditions, SpectraSyn Elite mPAO can be used with lower-viscosity fluids to create a wide range of industrial and automotive lubricants and greases.

SpectraSyn Elite mPAO advanced synthetic base oil is designed to provide better blending efficiency and performance capabilities than conventional polyalphaolefin (cPAO). More than 30% of the high-viscosity synthetic base stock market has already switched from cPAO to mPAO.

Energy efficiency study in industrial gear oils with SpectraSyn Elite mPAO

Today’s industrial sector accounts for nearly half of the world’s energy consumption. Improved energy efficiency in this sector obviously can have a major impact on the world’s energy use, which is predicted to grow as much as 25 percent by 2040*.

To help lower industrial energy consumption, lubricant formulators have increased their use of synthetic base stocks, which have been known to improve energy efficiency. But limited test data existed to measure this improvement.

That’s why ExxonMobil commissioned a series of tests at the Institute of Energy of the University of Porto (INEGI).

*Source for energy statistics: ExxonMobil’s Outlook for Energy.

Sponsored content by ExxonMobil Synthetics

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