In a Word - Why?
JobbersWorld has received substantial feedback regarding its featured article in the September 23 issue, “The Challenges of Bringing Innovation to PCMO.” The article explored the difficulties companies encounter when working to launch innovative lubricant products, with Evolve Lubricants and Novvi serving as case studies. Novvi and Evolve’s experiences illustrate that even after a product is successfully launched, it can still encounter significant challenges due to unforeseen circumstances. In this instance, the unexpected event was the API’s classification of SynNova as a Group IV base stock.
Among the thousands of JobbersWorld readers, the predominant question raised in the feedback was, “Why?” Specifically, why has the API classified Novvi base stock as Group IV after a considerable period of time has passed when it was classified as Group III, especially when licensed products containing Novvi base oil are already available in the market?
Without a clear and transparent explanation from API, speculation has emerged, with most concerns focusing on API’s methodology for determining what API Group base stocks fall into and its stance regarding renewable base oils.
Given that the American Petroleum Institute (API) is a national trade association “dedicated to promoting safety in the industry and influencing public policy to support a robust U.S. oil and natural gas sector,” it is understandable why much of the feedback JobbersWorld received also points to the need for the API to publicly state its reasoning and methodology for reclassifying Novvi base oil as Group IV. In addition to providing Novvi, Evolve, and others with needed answers to move forward, doing so will help pave the way for industry advancement and encourage innovative solutions to create high-performance lubricants from renewable resources.