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Lube
in the Groove
Afton
Chemical has rolled out a promising high-performance lubricant that can
keep heavy machinery moving
faster and lifting heavier loads.
by
Peter Galuszka
Not
long ago, operators of heavy-duty
equipment using hydraulic pumps and
lifts had a problem. As the pumps
increased performance, they operated
at higher temperatures and
pressures. Under added stress, the
pumps malfunctioned more often
because the common motor oil
routinely used to lubricate them
broke down.
That
was bad news for owners of machinery
who depend on pumps and lifts such
as dump trucks, land
excavators, garbage trucks, drag
lines and elevators. And it was a
major concern for customers of
Richmond-based Afton Chemical
Corporation, which makes specialty
chemicals for lubricants and fuels.
About
18 months ago, a team of 10
engineers and technicians got to
work at Afton’s sleek research
building in the shadow of
Richmond’s downtown expressway. On
Aug. 16, they launched a new
product called HiTEC 5785 PMA.
So
far the results seem promising.
HiTEC 5785 PMA prevents such problems as
a loss of viscosity, water corrosion
and polymer shearing inside pumps.
“The industry needed a polymer that
doesn’t break down,” says Ian
Macpherson, Afton’s marketing
manager for industrial additives who
holds a doctorate degree in
chemistry. “Since water is almost
always present when the pumps
operated, we needed something that
can counteract hydrolysis that can
cause corrosion and acidity.”
HiTEC
5785 PMA, a breakthrough product,
emerged from the Richmond labs after
Afton’s
former parent firm, Ethyl
Corporation, reorganized as New
Market Corporation in June 2004.
Ethyl,
which moved to Richmond in 1961, is
a venerable brand name in the
chemical and energy industries,
known for its antiknock lead
compounds used in fuel among other
products. The company was forced to
rethink its business strategy in the
1970s when tetra ethyl lead was
phased out from use in gasoline in the
United States after the introduction
of catalytic converters for cars.
Under
the new arrangement, New Market has
two primary subsidiaries: Ethyl,
which continues to market tetra ethyl
lead and manufacture specialty
chemicals, and Afton
Chemical, formerly known as Ethyl
Petroleum Additives, Inc. Afton
makes fuel and lubricant
additives and other specialty
chemicals. Among its better known
brand names are HiTEC Petroleum
Additives, GREENBURN Combustion
Technology, a petroleum
additive that reduces emissions, and
TecGARD Metalworking Additives.
On
revenues of $894 million last year,
New Market generated $33 million in
net income. Petroleum additives
revenues continue to grow this,
achieving 2nd quarter sales of $269
million, an increase of 23 percent
over the same quarter the year
before.
Innovation
at Afton Chemical is critical to
New Market's long-term success. The
Afton division accounted for all the
company's R&D spending: $65
million in 2004, up from $58 million
the previous year. Much of that sum
is spent in Richmond, where Afton
alone has 200 research workers along
with another R&D operation a few
miles away in Ashland. Rounding out
the R&D are facilities in
Bracknell, England, and Tsukuba,
Japan. New Market has racked up more
than 1,000 patents over the years.
“Outsiders
would be surprised to see that Richmond has the
wealth of chemical research that it
does,” says Macpherson, who was
raised in England and has worked at
the Richmond facility for 13 years.
“You’d expect something like
this down on the Gulf Coast.”
Gene
Winter, senior vice president with
the Greater Richmond Partnership,
the Richmond region's economic
development organization, concurs.
"Richmond may be the nation's
best kept secret in chemical R&D,"
he says.
DuPont
conducts much of its research on
high-performance polymers like
Kevlar and Nomex at its Spruance
plant, while Honeywell, developer of
Spectra fiber, maintains an R&D
center in the region, and Magellan
Systems performs research on its M5
super fiber in Richmond. Boehringer
Ingelheim, a German pharmaceutical
giant, also staffs a Richmond
laboratory that concentrates on
developing more efficient chemical
processes for the manufacture of
complex organic compounds at its
Petersburg plant. Underpinning the
local chemical industry is a strong
and growing department of chemical
engineering at Virginia Commonwealth
University. Says Winter:
"Richmond is a significant
center of innovation."
The
dominant compound in HiTEC 5785 PMA is
polymethacrylate, a commonly used
viscosity index improver. The chemical
protects the surfaces of pump cylinders
so they will move smoothly. A
challenge for Afton’s researchers,
Macpherson says, is to develop pumps
that can perform in conditions of
extreme cold and heat. Oil rigs, for
example, may need hydraulic pumps
that can operate equally well in
sub-zero Arctic conditions as well
as torrid deserts.
Compounding
the challenge, the lubricants must
be able to keep working in pumps
designed to work at higher, more
stressful levels of performance.
Customers and machinery makers have
found that as temperatures and
pressures increase, lubricant
function tends to break down.
Viscosity
is one problem. To work well, moving
parts in pumps need to be coated
with a lubricant film of the correct
thickness. Another problem is
“polymer shear.” In this
phenomenon, high heat and pressure
tend to make polymers – the long
string of chemicals in lubricants
– physically “shear” or break
apart. A third difficulty is dealing
with water. Higher pressure tends to
increase the chances of hydrolysis
in the pump, leading to problems
with corrosion and acidity.
Afton
scientists experimented with
chemical solutions to all three
problems and then worked with pump
makers for field testing. In one
case, they coordinated with a French
pump maker owned by Cleveland-based
Parker-Hannifin Corporation, a
leading control-and- motion
technology firm. After a pump in
France worked with the solution for
600 straight hours, Parker-Hannifin
approved the new product. Macpherson
says that HiTEC 5785 PMA can work with
pump pressures that can range as
high as 7,000 pounds per square
inch. The new product is produced at
an Afton facility in Port Arthur,
Tex.
The
new additive seems to be
well-regarded in the industry.
Robert Degennaro, a Houston-based
consultant with years of experience
in the lubricant industry, says that
HiTEC 5785 PMA appears to represent a
good step forward.
For
years, Degennaro says, heavy
equipment operators used common
motor oil to lubricate hydraulic
pumps. But companies became
concerned that workers might
mistakenly cross contaminate oils in
the equipment, leading to costly
repairs. Moreover, the oils broke
down when higher performance pumps
operating a higher temperatures and
pressures were introduced.
“This
[Afton] product may not be totally
unique,” he says, “but with the
evolution of higher pressures in
pumps, it’s the best thing out
there now. If anything, more
products like it will be needed
because companies are bringing out
more [pump] systems for even higher
performance.”
That's
good good news for Afton and
Richmond. "Afton Chemical is a
technology-driven company, and
R&D spending and resources are
closely tied to business
growth," says Macpherson.
"As this industry grows, and as
our market share grows, we plan to
proportionately increase the R&D
investment in Richmond."
--
September 14, 2005
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