Environmental impact of lubricants

R.C. Coy, Y. Michopoulos and J.P.T. Wilkinson

Up until the 1980's the problems facing lubricant formulators and marketers were simply those of meeting the technical requirements set by Original Equipment Manufactures (OEMs) and customers. However in the last ten years a whole extra set of requirements have been introduced, through legislation, public concern and OEM pressures, dealing with a lubricant's impact on the natural environment. Such impacts must be examined through a lubricants full life cycle all the way from the original product development programme through to ultimate disposal. Although a full life cycle analysis is needed in order to assess the total impact of lubricants in the environment, a subject well beyond the scope of this, have attempted to highlight some recent developments in the following critical areas:

(a) Choices during formulation, especially those dictated by current and emerging legislation,

(b) Impacts during use of the product including such aspects as fuel economy, oil consumption and tailpipe emissions,

(c) Fate in the environment, with emphasis on the disposal and/or recycling of used lubricants