497 23rd International Colloquium Tribology - January 2022 497 CO 2 ZERO - How Lubricants Contribute to Climate Neutrality Apurva Gosalia Senate of Economy, Bonn/ Berlin, Germany Corresponding author: a.gosalia@senat-deutschland.de 1. Introduction After tumultuous years in 2020 and 2021, stuck between corona crises, climate change and cultural conflicts, industry players may be wondering whether sustainability is still a priority in a post-Covid world. I think that it is now more of a priority than ever, as sustainability can bridge the gap between recovery from the pandemic and innovation in the industry. This paper looks at the contribution from the lubricants industry to sustainability and climate neutrality and also provides examples and solutions on successful sustainable business models and new ideas for the future of the sector. 2. The “5F”-Model To reduce CO 2 emissions, lubricant companies must first take a detailed look at each aspect of the processes directly and indirectly under their control and search for ways to reduce their carbon footprint, when producing lubricants. While this is a vital step, companies must also examine what comes before and after the blending process that may have an effect on the environment. This is known in life cycle assessment terminology as a cradle-to-cradle approach, which can be achieved by using what I like to call the 5F-Principle. The first of the five F’s is the “footprint”, which is the impact of a company’s own lubricant production. This follows lubricants during the production phase, known as gate-to-gate. The second F is the “feedprint”, which follows lubricants from cradle-to-gate and requires companies to be mindful of the sustainability characteristics of their raw materials. On the whole, lube manufacturers operate at the end of the value chain and have to bring in 100% of the raw materials to produce their lubricants. About 90% of the carbon footprint of a lubricant comes from the raw materials. The name of the game is to work closely with the suppliers, so that they’re bringing the carbon footprint of their raw materials down. The third F is the “fingerprint” - commonly called the handprint - which follows a lubricant from cradle-tograve. The fingerprint refers to the positive effects in customer application, i.e. the CO 2 savings that a lubricant generates in the use phase at customer operations. This can be calculated. If it is a specialized lubricant, it saves more CO 2 in customer applications thanks to higher reduced friction and ability to protect against wear and corrosion compared to a conventional alternative such as a standard-type lubricant. The fourth F is the “fining-print”, a play on the word rerefining. To be completely circular, the end-of life treatment of a lubricant product must be considered. The waste oil that can be collected and rerefined into feedstock and ultimately becomes a new lubricant — and also the CO 2 savings associated with that process — can be calculated. Here we are talking about cradle-to-cradle and circular economy. The final F is the “firing-print”, which refers to used oils that cannot be regenerated because of their high content of additives or pollutants being incinerated to generate power. At this point, CO 2 is emitted again, but it can be captured, stored or utilized and turned into a feed-stock for lubricants again. 3. The “CarbFix”-Project An example of carbon capture storage is a project being carried out in Iceland by CarbFix together with Climeworks, a Switzerland-based company. In this project, CO 2 can be captured from emissions or directly from the air and converted into solid mineral rocks. The method provides a complete carbon capture and storage solution where water with dissolved CO 2 is ejected into sub-surface rock formations where natural processes transform CO 2 into solid carbon and minerals within a couple of years. This process can be applied wherever favorable rock formations, water and a source of CO 2 come together. 4. The “CO 2 Lubricants”-Project Along a similar vein, a project specific to the lubricants industry - the CO 2 Lubricants Project - was aimed at converting CO 2 into lubricants. It was funded for nearly 2 million euros and carried out from 2016 to 2019 by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Germany and five other partners. In the project, carbon dioxide was captured from industrial emissions or from the atmosphere and converted into lubricants using chemical and biotechnological processes. Various microorganisms 498 23rd International Colloquium Tribology - January 2022 CO2ZERO - How Lubricants Contribute to Climate Neutrality such as yeast and algae use CO 2 as a nutrient and can convert it into new products such as lipids. For the production of high-performance lubricants, these lipids are then extracted from the microorganisms and used either purely or in a further processed form. Microalgae fed with CO2 can achieve a lipid fraction of up to 80% of their weight. Thus, it is possible to capture the already-emitted CO 2 and to either store it forever or utilize it to make a new feedstock for lubricants. 5. The “3C”-Approach However, we cannot rely only on high-performance lubricants to reduce emissions in the use phase. Working toward sustainability must be a three-step approach of calculating, cutting down and compensating for CO 2 emissions that the lubricants industry generates. The first step is to calculate the corporate carbon footprint and the product carbon footprint. The next step is to search for opportunities to avoid and reduce CO 2 emissions. For instance, about 80% of the emissions of a typical lube manufacturer are caused by heat and electricity consumption, so energy efficiency is certainly an important lever in avoiding or reducing CO 2 . Offsetting unavoidable carbon emissions through compensation measures is also critical to achieving carbon neutrality. Since emissions impact the climate at a global level, it is ultimately irrelevant where on the planet they originate and where they are saved. Compensation measures occur through the voluntary promotion and investment in climate protection projects in socially, politically or economically disadvantaged countries. Typically, projects used for compensation measures target six project sectors: biomass, cookstoves, solar energy, forest conservation, hydropower and wind energy. 6. Conclusion The lubricants industry as a whole can contribute to the “CO 2 ZERO”-journey, while lubricants as products can contribute to climate neutrality. References [1] Technische Universität München (n.d.): CO 2 Lubricants, available at https: / / www.department.ch.tum. de/ wssb/ forschung/ abgeschlossene-projekte/ co2lubricants/ ,accessed 10 Mai 2021. [2] Umweltbundesamt (2014): Altöl, available at https: / / www.umweltbundesamt.de/ themen/ abfallressourcen/ abfallwirtschaft/ abfallarten/ gefaehrliche-abfaelle/ altoel,accessed 10 Mai 2021.