Editorial

Citation

Taylor, J. (2007), "Editorial", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 59 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ilt.2007.01859daa.001

Editorial

Earlier this year in London the 11th ICIS World Base Oils Conference took place.

Over 300 delegates from 43 different countries gathered together to hear about current and future base oils.

For those involved in lubricant formulation and production it seems that 2007 has bought to an end two or three years of apparelled disruption in modern times of base oil availability. Unusually severe hurricanes and a spate of refinery and base oil unit problems have restricted supply and led to the basic lubricant raw material doubling in price.

However, it was not all bad news. The significant increase in lubricant costs has focussed minds on both alternative products and improving the life and service capability of conventional products.

Trends recognised are the move into Europe of Group 2 base oils with three suppliers providing product during the course of 2007.

The long term availability of base oils produced by the GTL (gas to liquid) technique and the decline in the production of solvent brightstock are likely to lead to changes in formulation approaches.

The future looks likely to be as interesting as the past as new lubricant requirements are met with different materials and techniques.

In this issue we are pleased to include work from Turkey, India and Japan covering a wide range of topics.

Remember if you are reading this then you may be working in an area of great interest to other readers. Why don't you consider having your work published in ILT? We would really like to hear from you.

John Taylor