Page 6 - Fuels & Lubes International 2014 - Q2

FUELS & LUBES INTERNATIONAL Volume 20 Issue 2 6
The size of the prize
The right lubes can smooth the path to higher fuel efficiency – and a lower
carbon footprint. That’s well known. What isn’t as clear is how much can be
gained. Now lube suppliers have a better idea of how big the prize is. This
knowledge could be useful in determining how to wring out the greatest benefit.
That’s attracting the attention of vehicle and engine makers, who are facing
some daunting challenges in reducing vehicle fuel consumption.
By Hank Hogan
“We have a significant
challenge in fuel economy,” said
Gregg Black, advanced engine
systems team senior manager at
Chrysler Group LLC.
He pointed to, for instance,
the 54.5 mile-per-gallon-by-2025
requirement set by the U.S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency (EPA).
That represents roughly a 70%
increase over the 2014 model year
fleet average.
“That CO2 reduction is always
on the forefront of our activities,”
Black said. “But as you look at some
of the things that we’re doing and the
technologies that we’re applying to
improve our CO2 performance, you
begin to realize there is an opportu-
nity to say, ‘What if we did have
some sort of a unique lubricant?’”
Sizingup the prize
That’s where some of the work
being done by oil companies like
Shell International Petroleum
Company comes in. Shell has a
long history of modeling lubricants
in engines, according to Robert
Mainwaring, technology manager
of innovation. Lately, Shell has been
particularly interested in accurately
assessing the possible impact that
lubes can have. The company also
wants to better determine the margin
of error for a lubricant in an engine,
in part because engine makers may
increasingly need to push up against
that edge in order to meet fuel
consumption requirements.
“If getting closer to the edge
can save you energy, how close to
the edge are you prepared to go?”
Mainwaring said.
According to the company’s
calculations, the possible impact
of lubricants is not insignificant.
For instance, a Shell presentation
at the recent World Tribology
Congress revealed that the total size
of the prize ran at slightly more than
21% for a M111 test engine. That
is, more than a fifth of the total fuel
being burned was consumed just
by overcoming engine friction.
That total is a complicated
interaction between the oil
formulation, the engine design,
the environment and the way
the vehicle is driven. The nature
of the interaction can be seen by
considering what happens to a
lubricant as a vehicle is being driven.
In the test conducted by Shell,
automot i v e co lumn