API work group to issue draft of Lubricants Sustainability RP

The American Petroleum Institute (API) Lubricants Sustainability Work Group plans to complete the draft of a Recommended Practice (RP) this summer for balloting within the API Lubricants Group. The objective is to issue the Recommended Practice by year’s end. API intends to make the document available free of charge to the broader industry for reference.

The established goals of the API Lubricants Sustainability Work Group are as follows: 

• Define terminology and identify the best practices for life cycle assessment of lubricants and specialty products in the marketplace to  promote consistency across the industry

• Produce an API Recommended Practice and make it available to the broader industry and regulators for reference or citation

• Coordinate and liaise with industry groups regarding global sustainability efforts underway.

According to API Senior Manager Jeffrey Harmening, the API Lubricants Sustainability group was formed in June 2021. Harmening reported last week on the progress of the work group in Seattle, during the semi-annual meeting of ASTM International’s D02 Subcommittee on Petroleum Products, Liquid Fuels, and Lubricants.

A subgroup of subject matter experts (SMEs) include representatives from Chevron, ExxonMobil, Vanderbilt Chemicals, Infineum, Phillips 66, Valvoline, Kleen Performance Products, Afton Chemical, Lubrizol, Motiva, Novvi and Shell.

In addition, API is working with a diverse group of industry organizations across the U.S. (ILMA), EU (ATIEL, UEIL, VSI, GEIR, ATC), and Asia-Pacific (ALIA, ALA).

To date, the work group has achieved the following, which which will be included in the document:

• Developed a document which captures key items regarding the overarching life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. 
• Developed an overview of the key stages of the lubricant life cycle, used as framework to also structure the API RP. 
• Developed a listing of publicly available references for incorporation or reference within the RP.