2012 — Number 1 - ExxonMobil

Every lubricant – from motor oil in
your family car to hydraulic oil in a
jet aircraft – is made by combining
a base stock with additives.
Since the 1960s, ExxonMobil
Chemical Company has been
developing synthetic base stocks
using catalysts – providing the
basis for products that offer a
range of operational and environmental
benefits. In the half-century
since then, the company has
developed 25 grades and is now
the world’s leader in the synthetic
base-stock industry.
ExxonMobil Chemical sells
base stocks to companies that
produce and market finished
lubricants, including everything
from vehicle motor oils, gear
oils and greases, to specialized
lubricants for aviation,
marine and industrial applications.
ExxonMobil’s Lubricants
& Petroleum Specialties (L&PS)
is a large customer, purchasing
synthetic base stocks for use
in its industry-leading products
such as Mobil 1, Mobil Delvac 1
and Mobil SHC. With both the
Chemical and L&PS organizations
leveraging their respective
technology and product-development
expertise, the company
gains competitive advantages
and other efficiencies.
ExxonMobil Chemical’s newest
synthetic base stock, made
using the company’s proprietary
metallocene catalyst technology,
is metallocene polyalphaolefin,
or mPAO. It’s sold
globally under the brand name
SpectraSyn Elite. To meet the
rapidly growing demand for this
premium product, ExxonMobil
is building a world-scale plant
at the company’s integrated
refining and chemical complex
Story by Thomas L. Torget
Workers offload a shipment of ExxonMobil base stocks
at one of the company’s blending plants. The base stocks
will then be used to formulate a variety of lubricants.
in Baytown, Texas. The plant
will have a capacity of 50,000
tons per year and is expected
to be completed in the second
half of next year. The project will
create nearly 400 constructionrelated
jobs and will substantially
increase global availability of
SpectraSyn Elite.
Efficiency drives market
“The drive for greater energy
efficiency, improved durability
and extended drain intervals is
creating very strong demand
for high-performance lubricants
made with advanced synthetic
base stocks,” explains Lynne
Lachenmyer, senior vice president
for ExxonMobil Chemical’s
synthetics, basic chemicals and
intermediates global businesses.
“This new manufacturing
capacity demonstrates our technology
leadership and our commitment
to provide customers
with reliable supplies of synthetic
base stocks that enable innovative
lubricants.”
Mineral base stocks are an
excellent choice for a wide range
of applications. But to address
increasing demand for improved
energy efficiency, emissions
reduction and extended lubricant
drain intervals, synthetic base
stocks such as SpectraSyn Elite
offer a number of advantages.
These include better durability,
which means the molecules are
less likely to break down over
time. They also have lower volatility,
so there’s less evaporation
when operating at high temperatures.
Both of these properties
mean that synthetic lubricants
provide excellent wear protection
over longer periods and over
severe operating conditions. This
greatly extends the useful life of
the lubricant, while providing outstanding
protection.
Fewer lubricant changes
reduce equipment downtime for
routine maintenance. In fact, for
some applications such as automatic
transmissions, synthetic
base stocks are so durable they
allow manufacturers to create
transmission fluids that may
never need changing over the
life of the equipment.
In addition to exceptional durability,
synthetic base stocks like
SpectraSyn Elite maintain viscosity,
or don’t thin out, at high operating
temperatures. This is critical
to wear protection. By using
synthetic base stocks, manufac-
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