ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on general trends in industrial lubricants. Industrial lubricants refer to a broad category of lubricants and the trends cannot all be addressed within a single chapter. Therefore we will narrow our focus to the following topics:
• Future growth markets • General market drivers • Biodegradable lubricants • Metalworking trends • Gear oil trends • Compressor oil trends • Hydraulic oil trends • Grease trends • Effects of base oils on industrial lubricants
Over the last three years industrial lubricant sales have seen flat to no-growth. Sales of lubricating oils and greases totaled 2.46 billion gal in 2002, the lowest since 1992, according to the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. This follows a 3.3% drop in 2001 and flat sales in 2000 [1]. The third-quarter of 2003 showed a 19% decline in U.S. lubricant sales when compared to the same third-quarter of 1997. Many factors contributed to this decline including the global recession, closure of
steel and paper mills, as well as the increased performance of synthetic lubricants.
