The "dual carbon" goal has a far-reaching impact on the lubricant industry. The lubricant industry can provide lubrication support for equipment that manufactures and uses green and low-carbon energy, and can help other industries reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At present, it is still necessary to study and develop standard methods for fuel economy test evaluation and corresponding lubricant products with energy-saving and carbon-reducing performance. From the perspective of the entire lubricant industry chain, at different stages of economic development, there are many paths to achieve low-carbonization of lubricant production raw materials, base oils and additives. The lubricant production process based on physical methods can reduce carbon emissions by using low-carbon energy. The lubricant industry should strengthen green and low-carbon research on the entire supply chain, carry out various lubricant carbon footprint studies, and innovate to drive the traditional industry towards the direction of green and low-carbon new quality productivity. This version of the text is provided by Zhang Jianrong, Sinopec Petrochemical Research Institute Co., Ltd.

Lubricants support the development of green and low-carbon energy equipment

The establishment of the "dual carbon" goal has brought a revolution to the energy supply and demand sides, and has also had a huge impact on the closely related lubricant industry. The lubricant variety with the greatest impact is internal combustion engine oil. At present, the consumption of internal combustion engine oil, including gasoline engine oil and diesel engine oil, accounts for about one-third of the total lubricant consumption. As the market share of new energy vehicles increases significantly, the demand for internal combustion engine oil will drop significantly. The green transformation of energy will reduce or even eliminate the demand for some lubricant varieties, but it will also bring some new demands.

Provide lubrication for equipment producing green and low-carbon energy

Green and low-carbon energy includes wind energy, photovoltaics, hydropower, biomass, geothermal energy, nuclear energy, etc. Various equipment in these energy production, storage and transportation links require lubricants or related oils.Taking wind power equipment as an example, in order to pursue power generation efficiency, the power of a single wind turbine has been increased to 20 megawatts, and its wind rotor diameter has also been expanded to 260 meters. Although the blade length improves the power generation efficiency, the other performance requirements of the equipment are also increased accordingly. In particular, the gearbox of the generator set has become an important factor restricting the development of wind power. Gearbox failure leads to the longest unplanned downtime of wind power and the greatest economic loss.

Gears that have been running for a long time are prone to micropitting. The formation process causes the loss of gear surface material and changes in morphology, resulting in noise, vibration and loss of gear precision, and even further causes fatigue problems such as pitting and spalling, leading to gear failure. There are many factors that affect micropitting, including gear material and processing, operating conditions, lubricants, etc. The service life of the gearbox can be extended by improving the anti-micropitting performance of the lubricant. Although micropitting is an old problem, with the improvement of wind power equipment standards, higher requirements have been placed on wind power gearbox lubricants. The lubricant industry needs to conduct research from multiple aspects such as micropitting simulation tests, base oils and additives based on more stringent performance requirements, so as to provide support for wind power generation.