Lubricant additive marketer Lubrizol Corp. has entered into an exclusive agreement to carry Mitsui Chemicals Lucant polymer products, materials used in lubricants as viscosity modifiers and base fluids.
Lubrizol will be responsible for sales and marketing of Lucant, while Mitsui Chemicals will produce and develop products, Mitsui Chemicals andLubrizol said in a joint statement. With the acquisition of the exclusive distribution and marketing rights of Lucant for the lubricant industry, Lubrizols lineup of high performance products is expected to significantly expand, the producers said.
Working with Lubrizol, we are confident we will be better positioned to support the growing Lucant business generated by our customers, said Koichiro Sato, general manager of the elastomers division of Mitsui Chemicals functional polymeric materials business sector. Additionally, we believe that the combination of both our companies individual strengths, expertise and capabilities will not only enable new product development, but will also allow us to bring solutions to the market faster.
Lucant polymer products are made from ethylene and olefin, so they are hydrocarbon co-oligomers similar in some ways to polyalphaolefins. Mitsui has had success marketing them for plastics and resins applications.
Lucant ranges in grade from 40 centiStoke to about 2,000 cSt, and competes with high-vis PAO (40 and 100 cSt) and with polyisobuene, and somewhat with polymethacrylates. As a viscosity modifier, it mainly works to boost film thickness. It also can be a V.I. improver, since it has good low-temp properties.
Lubrizol expects to begin supplying Lucant products in the first quarter of 2015, Mitsui Chemicals and Lubrizol said.
Mitsui Chemicals will continue to sell its existing Lucant products other than for the lubricant industry on its own, the companies added.
Mitsui Chemicals claims that Lucant was the worlds first commercialized hydrocarbon-based synthetic oil not to contain polar groups. Lucant is used as viscosity modifier for lubricant applications, as gear oil for automobiles and for industrial lubricating oil, according to the statement.