Marine lubricants obviously represent a significant hazard to the environment, in particular those that may be in contact with sea water. It is estimated that 20 to 120 million liters of stern tube oil are released every year in the ocean, as part of normal operational leakage.
The Vessel General Permit from USA’s Environmental Protection Agency, a 2013 mandatory scheme, is a valuable attempt to improve the environmental impact of marine lubricants, by forcing all vessels greater than 79 ft entering US waters to use an Environmentally Acceptable Lubricant in all oil to sea interfaces, unless technically infeasible. Moreover, EPA strongly encourages the use of Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants in all above deck equipment too.
More recently, the small Vessel General Permit requires that any less than 79 ft vessel should use an Environmentally Acceptable Lubricant where discharges of oil in the surrounding waters may occur.
In other parts of the world, the 2017 International Maritime Organisation’s Polar Code states that non-toxic, biodegradable lubricants should be considered outside the underwater hull with direct seawater interfaces for ships operating in polar waters.
NYCO’s synthetic esters offer a dual competence: they demonstrate an excellent environmental profile (no toxicity, biodegradability, low dependency on fossil resources) without compromising on performance (excellent lubricity, stability and low temperature behavior).
Whenever working on high performance marine lubricants, consider using NYCO’s synthetic esters: they are incomparable components for the formulation of such lubricants.