A stuck water gate is indeed a nightmare for all boatmen. For an on-time delivery of their goods, the skippers have to rely on a perfectly working infrastructure. It is therefore important that the joints of the water gates are well lubricated. It should be noted that even trace amounts of mineral oil can pollute a large quantity of fresh water.
By design it is not possible to prevent the contact of river water with joints and other bearing points of the massive water gates. Besides a low water solubility to minimize the washout of any substances, being non-toxic and biodegradable are basic requirements for lubricants to be used in those water gates.
Low amount of additives has a big influence
The total percentage of additives in the finished lubricant is relatively low, but the influence of additives on solubility, toxicology and biodegradability is not negligible. In fact, additives could have a drastic influence on these properties. This example illustrates the challenges you need to deal with during the development of an environmentally acceptable lubricant: on the one hand there is the commercial aspect for high lubricant performance and long service intervals and on the other hand the product needs to be biodegraded in its working environment as quickly as possible.
The LANXESS Business Line Lubricant Additives Business (LAB) already has a series of environmentally friendly Additins® in their portfolio. These additives, for example, could be used for the formulation of lubricants labeled with the European Ecolabel. The importance of environmentally friendly lubricants is becoming increasingly clear, leading to constant development in this field.
