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MAROFF-2-Maritim virksomhet og offsh-2

GREEn Norwegian LubricANt proDuction

Alternative title: Grønnere hav med Norske smøremidler

Awarded: NOK 9.7 mill.

Project Manager:

Project Number:

332369

Project Period:

2022 - 2026

The lubricants currently used in the shipping industry and marine applications are either based on mineral oils or synthetic oils. Lubricants based on mineral oils are more widely used by the industry. Mineral oils are detrimental to the environment due to their toxicity, low biodegradability and high bioaccumulation; therefore, their use should be limited in marine applications. Lubricant leakages and spills from marine vessels have become an environmental issue of great concern over the last decades. Increased awareness of maritime lubricants polluting the oceans has triggered some countries to launch restrictive regulations that ban the use of conventional mineral based products and force the use of Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants (EALs). However, the performance of EALs can still be improved by developing new products. The GREENLAND project will contribute to the green shift by developing more reliable and innovative EALs for marine applications. Based on this innovation, a new lubricant production site can be established in Norway. To reach this goal, we will do the following: • Define the end users needs from a technological point of view • better understand the main limitations of currently used EALs based on these needs • determine the main properties to be targeted to propose a better lubricant formulation. This will be tested and validated at lab scale and at industrial scale before being put into production. GREENLAND will contribute to the green shift and, more specifically, to the following UN Sustainable Goals: • Goal 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production: by developing new EALs. • Goal 9 - Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure and, more specifically, target 9.4: by making this industry more sustainable and contributing to a greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies. • Goal 14 - Life below Water: by preventing and reducing the use of mineral oil based lubricants in maritime applications

Lubricant leakages and spills from marine vessels have become an environmental issue of great concern over the last decades. Increased social, Governmental and non-Governmental associations awareness have triggered some countries to launch restrictive regulations intended to minimize the pollution of oceans and coasts. The new regulations (e.g. EPA 2013 Vessel General Permit) require the use of environmentally acceptable lubricants (EALs) in all oil-to-sea vessel interfaces while restricting the use of toxic and polluting mineral oil based lubricants. This transition from using very well-known and established mineral oil based lubricants to EALs has led to an increased number of reported failures both in vessel equipment and seals. One of the main challenges when formulating an EAL is the limited number of base oils that fulfills the requirements to biodegradability, bioaccumulation and toxicity, and therefore the choice of the additive package is critical. An inappropriate selection of the right additives will adversely affect the properties of the base oil by contributing to secondary effects that will risk the performance of the lubricant or by promoting unwanted chemical reactions. Despite the improvements over the last years there is still needed to develop more reliable additive packages and EALs formulation. Therefore, the GREENLAND project aims at contributing to the Norwegian green shift by developing more reliable and innovative additives that can be used for establishing a new lubricant production site in Norway. GREENLAND will be led by Arctic Coating in collaboration with Kongsberg Maritime and Funzionano as industrial partners, and SINTEF Industry as the Research Institute. The partners cover the whole value chain of EAL production, from additives production to EAL formulation and production and an end user to validate them at industrial scale.

Funding scheme:

MAROFF-2-Maritim virksomhet og offsh-2