The fuel and lubricant additives industry journal from Infineum International Ltd

Big emissions cuts for small engines

In April the US Environmental Protection Agency announced new measures to cut harmful emissions from the non-road sector with a proposal setting strict standards for most lawn and garden equipment and leisure marine engines. Insight examines the impact that these imminent changes are likely to have on small engine hardware and lubricants.

Face to Face: CEC Chairman Hans Thomassen

After six months in his new role as Chairman of the CEC Insight talks to Hans Thomassen to find out his plans and priorities for his two year term of office.  While he believes the CEC is working well, there is always something that can be improved and his first priority is to make sure test methods are finalised so that they can be used and implemented in the ACEA oil sequences.

CIMAC 2007 – conference round-up

The triennial CIMAC congress is renowned as one of the most technically acclaimed events in the field of marine, power generation and rail applications.  It aims to bring together manufacturers of diesel engines and gas turbines as well as component and system builders with users such as ship owners, power plant operators and railway companies, along with research institutes, classification societies and oil companies.  Over 950 delegates from all over the world attended the 25th CIMAC world congress on combustion engine technology in Vienna, Austria in May 2007.  Insight gives an overview of the conference and a brief look at the papers presented by Infineum.

Embracing Complexity - At Infineum Trends 2007

The Infineum Trends 2007 presentations with the theme of ‘Embracing Complexity’ were presented at key venues across the US, Canada, Latin America and Asia Pacific.  As complexity increases in almost every aspect of the automotive, fuels, lubricants and additives industries it is important that opportunities that arise are recognised and embraced.  This article gives a brief overview of the current and future challenges presented at Infineum Trends 2007.

Views on CJ-4 lubricants - at Infineum Trends 2007

To augment the Infineum Trends 2007 presentations key industry figures give their views on current hot topics in their area of operation.  This year Bengt Otterholm and Greg Shank of Volvo, ExxonMobil’s Nick Hilder, Shawn Whitacre from Cummins and ILMA President Greg Julian gave thoughts on the new API CJ-4 oils.

ACEA 2008 - Creating a specification framework

 
The next major revision to the ACEA specifications for European light-duty and heavy-duty diesel lubricants is expected in 2008.  It is essential that these specifications meet the basic general needs of OEMs and end users by providing a core set of performance requirements on top of which OEM specifications for further improved performance can be built.  Clearly complexity should be kept out of these industry specifications.

Testing conditions - at the Infineum Japanese winter field trials

To demonstrate the effectiveness of its cold flow additive technology Infineum carries out rigorous field trials each year in the harsh conditions of Asahikawa-city, Hokkaido on Japan’s north island.  Working in co-operation with key OEMs and oil companies, with average temperatures of around minus 10°C, Infineum is able to validate the performance of its products in real conditions rather than simply relying on cold filter plugging point and other laboratory tests.