Last Wednesday, Total Lubmarine opened new laboratory facilities at its main research centre in Solaize, near Lyon, in France. The new facilities are dedicated to the research and formulation of new marine lubricants and equipped with state of the art equipment to support the research team's quest to develop the next generation of lubes for the shipping sector.

The new facility comes against a backdrop of stricter emission limits in Emission Control Areas (ECAs) which would require the use of dual fuels and new lubricant formulations.

The company said that stricter sulfur regulations, which came into effect at the beginning of this year, had prompted the need for a "next generation" of lubes.

Since January 1, 2015, sulfur content in marine fuel has been limited to 0.10 percent, leading many companies to switch to low-sulfur fuel or alternatives such as liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Inaugurating the new facilities, Norbert Schieren, General Manager of Total Lubmarine said "Total Lubmarine's success to date has been due in large part to our commitment to long-term research programmes. These programmes, run by scientists at the top of their field, enable us to scope out and evaluate all the options. We are re-imagining the lubes of today and developing lubes suitable for the stresses and strains of the marine environment: whatever the fuel and whatever the engine. Our investment in these new facilities demonstrates our on-going commitment to this vital research".

"The next generation of lubricants must be born out of innovative chemistry if they are to be simple for operators to use and at the same time match tough and variable operating conditions," he said.