Episode 31: Can carbon footprint be included in future base oil specs?

Mario Majic, head of Strategic Business Development, Marketing & Corporate Governance at Avista Oil AG, says that with today’s re-refining technology, base oils produced from spent lubricants can compete head on with “virgin” base oils.

Speaking with F&L Asia  in Episode 31 of the F+L Webcast, Majic said re-refined base oils from Avista can achieve up to 90% CO2 emissions savings from cradle to gate compared to primary refined base oils.

Historically, buyers expect a discount when they purchase re-refined base oils. However, that’s starting to change, says Majic.

“A couple of years ago, we were not able to achieve premium prices for our products, but the market is changing. If demand for something is rising and supply is limited, we know what is going to happen,” he says.

Avista is a German re-refiner with about 300,000 tons per year of combined base oil production footprint in Germany, Denmark and the United States. The company produces Group II in the United States and is upgrading its facility in Germany to produce Group III.

Majic says that “Oil can be green, oil can be clean and oil can be sustainable.”

His wish list is to see carbon footprint included in future base oil specifications. In Europe, as well as the rest of the world, the industry uses the base oil classification contained in Annex E of API 1509. API 1509 describes the voluntary Engine Oil Licensing and Certification System (EOLCS) of the American Petroleum Institute (API). All base stocks are divided into five categories. Groups I to III are classified according to their saturates, sulfur and viscosity index (VI). Group IV base stocks are polyalphaolefins (PAOs) and Group V are all other base stocks that are not Groups I-IV.