Lubricating production | Hydrocarbon Engineering Page 1 of 6

Home (/) /  Special reports (../../) /  13 April 2021 (../) /  Lubricating production

Lubricating production
Published by Callum O'Reilly (/team/callum-oreilly/), Senior Editor  Save to read list
Hydrocarbon Engineering (https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com), Tuesday, 13 April
2021 13:15

According to recent forecasts, the global lubricants market is growing by an

annual rate of around 4% and could reach a total value of US$166 billion in
2025. Figure 1 presents the growing trend in the lubricants market.1 The high
added value of lubricants in comparison with transportation fuels,
accompanied by the trend of reduction in transportation fuels demand,
indicates an attractive alternative to refiners with adequate refining hardware
to improve their revenues and competitiveness in the downstream market. The
current economic crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the
lubricants market, but to a lesser extent than transportation fuels.

Figure 1. Growing trend in the demand for lubricants.1

Like other crude oil derivatives, economic and technological development has necessitated the
production of lubricating oils with higher quality and performance, as well as, importantly,
lower contaminants content.

The main quality requirements for lubricating oils are viscosity, flash point, viscosity index
(viscosity change with temperature), fluidity point, chemical stability, and volatility.

According to the American Petroleum Institute (API), the lubricating base oils can be classified
as shown in Table 1. The lube oils from groups II, III, and IV have higher quality than base oils
from group I; the content of contaminants such as sulfur and unsaturated compounds is
significantly reduced and, moreover, the viscosity index is superior for these groups.

https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/special-reports/13042021/lubricating-production/ 5/4/2021
Lubricating production | Hydrocarbon Engineering Page 2 of 6

Table 1.

Lubricant production routes

The first step in the lubricant production process is vacuum distillation of the atmospheric
residue obtained, such as bottom product in the atmospheric distillation processes. For
vacuum distillation units dedicated to producing lubricating fractions, the fractionating
requires greater control than in the units dedicated to producing gasoils to fuels conversion. 2
The objective is to avoid the thermal degradation and to control the distillation curve of the
side streams. A secondary vacuum distillation column is necessary when it is desirable to
separate the heavy neutral oil stream from vacuum residue.

In lubricating production units based on the solvent route, the following steps are in essence
physical separation processes, with the objective to remove from the process streams the
components that can prejudice the desired properties of base oils, mainly the viscosity index
and chemical stability.

Figure 2 shows a block diagram corresponding to the process steps to produce base lubricating
oils through the solvent extraction route.

Figure 2. Processing scheme for base lubricating oil production through solvent route.

As previously mentioned in the vacuum distillation step, the fractionating quality obtained
between the cuts is critical for these streams to reach the quality requirements such as flash
point and viscosity. After the vacuum distillation step, the side cuts are pumped to the aromatic
extraction unit and the vacuum residue is sent to the propane deasphalting unit. The propane
deasphalting process seeks to remove from vacuum residue the heavier fractions that can be
applied as lubricating oil. The propane deasphalting units dedicated to producing lubricating
oils apply pure propane such as solvent, because this solvent has higher selectivity to remove
resins and asphaltenes from deasphalted oil.

In the aromatic extraction step, the process streams are put in contact with a solvents selective
to remove aromatics compounds, mainly polyaromatics. The main objective in removing these
compounds is the fact that they have a low viscosity index and low chemical stability – this is
strongly undesirable in lubricating oils. As the nitrogen and sulfur compounds are normally
present in the polyaromatic structures, in this step the major part of sulfur and nitrogen
content of the process stream is removed. The solvents normally applied in the aromatics
extraction process are phenol, furfural, and N-methyl pyrrolidone.

The subsequent step is to remove the linear paraffin with high molecular weight through
solvent extraction. This step is important because these compounds prejudice the lubricating
oil flow at low temperatures. A typical solvent employed in the solvent dewaxing unit is the
Methyl-Isobutyl-Ketone (MIK), but some process plants apply toluene and/or
methylethylketone (MEK) for this purpose.

After paraffin removing, the lubricating oil is sent to the finishing process. In this step,
heteroatom’s compounds (oxygen, sulfur and nitrogen) are removed. These compounds can
give colour and chemical instability for the lube oil. Some remaining polyaromatic molecules
are also removed. Some process plants with low investment and processing capacity apply a
clay treatment in this step. However, modern plants and those plants with higher processing
capacity use mild hydrotreating units; this is especially important when the petroleum
processed to have higher contaminants content, in this case the clay bed, saturates very
quickly.

https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/special-reports/13042021/lubricating-production/ 5/4/2021
Lubricating production | Hydrocarbon Engineering Page 3 of 6

The paraffin removed from lubricating oils are treated to remove the excess oil in the unit,
called the wax deoiling unit. In this step, the process stream is submitted to reduced
temperatures to remove the low branched paraffin, which has a low melting point. Like the
lubricating oils, the subsequent step is a finishing process to remove heteroatoms (N,S,O) and
to saturate polyaromatic compounds. In the paraffin case, in general, a hydrotreating process is
applied with sufficient severity to saturate the aromatic compounds that can enable the food
grade in the final product to be reached. As cited earlier, the solvent route is capable of
producing group I lubricating oils. However, lube oils employed in severe work conditions
(large temperature variation) need be have higher saturated compounds content and a higher
viscosity index. In this case, it is necessary to apply the hydrorefining route. A great limitation
in the lubricant production by the solvent route is the necessity of paraffinic crude oils, which
tends to present higher costs and reduce the operational flexibility of the refiners, especially
related to the crude oil supply in the event of a geopolitical crisis.

Despite the relevant strategic questions such as crude oil prices and supply, the Group I
lubricating oils tend to lose market quickly due to their poor performance in comparison with
the remaining groups, especially considering the growing technology development of the
automotive industry.3 This fact is one of the most relevant driving forces to capital investments
to improve the refining hardware capacity to produce high quality lubricating oils through the
hydrorefining route. Another relevant factor which negatively impacts the competitiveness of
refiners relying exclusively on the solvent route is that the Group I and II lubricating oils have
lost market ground in recent years, mainly in relation to the technology requirements of the
newest automotive engines, Figure 3 presents a forecast of the market share evolution to
different kinds of base oils in the market.

Figure 3. Base oils market distribution.5

According to the data from Figure 3, a significant reduction in the demand for Group I base oils
is expected, leading to a great competitive loss to refiners relying on base oil production
exclusively through solvent routes.

The hydrorefining route

In the production of lubricating oil by hydrorefining, the physical processes are substituted for
catalytic processes, essentially hydroprocesing processes. Figure 4 shows a block diagram of
the processing sequence to produce base lube oils through the hydrorefining route.

https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/special-reports/13042021/lubricating-production/ 5/4/2021
Lubricating production | Hydrocarbon Engineering Page 4 of 6

Figure 4. Processing scheme for base lubricating oil production through hydrorefining route.

In this case, the fractionating in the vacuum distillation step has more flexibility than in the
solvent route, once the streams will be cracked in the hydrocracking unit, so another
distillation step is necessary.

After the vacuum distillation and propane deasphalting steps, the process streams are sent to a
hydrotreating unit. This step seeks to saturate polyaromatic compounds and remove
contaminants such as sulfur and, above all, nitrogen, which is a strong deactivation agent for
the hydrocracking catalyst.4

In the hydrocracking step, the feed stream is cracked under controlled conditions, and
chemical reactions such as dehydrocyclisation and aromatics saturation occur, which gives to
the process stream the adequate characteristics for their application as lubricants.

The following step, hydroisomerisation, seeks to promote isomerisation of linear paraffin

(which can reduce the viscosity index) by producing branched paraffin.

After hydroisomerisation, the process stream is pumped to hydrofinishing units to saturate the
remaining polyaromatic compounds and to remove heteroatoms. In the hydrofinishing step,
the water content in the lube oil is controlled to avoid turbidity in the final product.

When comparing the lubricant production routes, it can be observed that the hydrorefining
route gives more flexibility in relation to the petroleum to be processed. As mentioned earlier,
as the solvent route applies essentially physical processes, it is necessary to select crude oils
with a higher content of paraffin and low contaminants content (mainly nitrogen) to the
processing. Another solvent route disadvantage is the application of solvents, which can cause
environmental damage and needs special security requirements during processing. Production
of low value-added streams, such as aromatic extract, is another disadvantage.

Brazilian lubrication market

The Brazilian domestic market for paraffinic oils is supplied by refineries that apply the solvent
route with the hydrofinishing step to produce lubricating oils and waxes to a variety of
consumers, including the food and cosmetic industries among others. The country’s lubricating
production in 2019 was 3.5 million bbl. Furthermore, the internal market is also supplied by
some importers. According to data from the Brazilian Petroleum Agency (ANP), the internal
consumption of lubricating oil reached 7.7 million bbl in 2019. Figure 5 shows the composition
of the Brazilian lubricating oil market in 2019.

https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/special-reports/13042021/lubricating-production/ 5/4/2021
Lubricating production | Hydrocarbon Engineering Page 5 of 6

Figure 5. Balance of the Brazilian market of lubricating oils in 2019 (based on ANP data).

In the Brazilian case, a significant part of the market is supplied to recycled lubricating oil.
Recycling or re-refining of used lubricating oil meets a double role: elimination of a hazardous
residue and reducing the necessity of the extraction of higher quantities of petroleum to
produce base lubricating oils. The industrial processes applied to recover the used lubricating
oil are called: the acid-clay process (Meiken process), the deasphalting process through wiped
film evaporators, and the hydroprocessing route that is capable of producing higher quality
base oils (e.g. Groups II and III). Some researchers have dedicated their efforts to the
development of new re-refining technologies for treating used lubricating oils, and some of
these technologies have shown promise, such as ultrafiltration in membranes. However, the
technology is still in the initial stage of development.

In Brazil, close to 40% of the lubricating oil consumption is recovered and sent to processing by
re-refiners, according to the ANP. Despite this significant data, the Brazilian production of
lubricating oils is concentrated in Group I and II oils.

Conclusion
As has been discussed, despite the high capital investment of the hydroprocessing units, the
higher added value of the Groups II and III lubricants and the growing market can justify the
investment, particularly when considering the trend of reduction in transportation fuels
demand at a global level in the medium-term. This has been leading refiners to look at ways to
ensure market share and revenues in the downstream industry through the maximisation of
high added value derivatives, with petrochemicals and lubricating oils growing markets. Due to
accelerated technological development, especially in the automotive market, the Group I
lubricating oil is anticipated to lose market share in the coming years. This is leading refiners to
look for capital investments in order to sustain their competitiveness in the lubricating market.
Another side effect for lubricating producers based on solvent routes is increasing imports to
supply the internal market, leading to an external dependence of critical production input as
well as negative effects on the balance of payments.

References
1. BAU, A., BRUNI, G., HUSSIN, L., KIEWELL, D, KOHLER, B., and VERITY, R., ‘Lubes growth
opportunities remain despite switch to electric vehicles’, McKinsey & Company, (7
December 2018).
2. GARY, J. H.; HANDWERK, G. E., ‘Petroleum Refining – Technology and Economics’, 4 th
edition, Marcel Dekker, (2001).
3. ‘Lubricants Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Industrial,
Automotive, Marine, Aerospace), By Region, And Segment Forecast, 2019 - 2025’, Gran
View Research, (2019).
4. ROBINSON, P.R.; HSU, C.S, ‘Handbook of Petroleum Technology’, 1 st edition, Springer,
(2017).
5. STATISTA, https://www.statista.com/statistics/547119/projected-base-oil-demand-
worldwide-distribution-by-type/

Written by Dr Marcio Wagner da Silva, Petrobras, Brazil.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/special-reports/13042021/lubricating-

https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/special-reports/13042021/lubricating-production/ 5/4/2021
Lubricating production | Hydrocarbon Engineering Page 6 of 6

production/

You might also like

[WEBINAR] Honeywell Forge Webinar Series
(https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1595817295624320267?
source=ymol)
Hydrocarbon Engineering will be hosting a series of exclusive webinar
presentations from Honeywell. Each presentation will be led by an
(https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1595817295624320267?
source=ymol) industry expert and will focus on a range of topics around Honeywell
Forge's products and services. Find out more here
» (https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1595817295624320267?
source=ymol)

Speedy samples (/special-reports/04052021/speedy-

samples/)
Tuesday 04 May 2021 12:30
Hari Narayanan, Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA, explains how
(/special- multiparameter water quality testing can help protect process
equipment and drive production efficiency.
reports/04052021/speedy-
samples/)

https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/special-reports/13042021/lubricating-production/ 5/4/2021