Fact vs friction

Shell brings its technology forum to India.

Pitting, indentations, sludge formation, synthetic versus mineral oil... these aren’t terms one usually uses on a daily basis. But get exposed to the Shell Technology Forum, and rest assured that these terms are what you will get to hear.

Shell Lubricants, a division of the Shell group, organised this event this week to educate customers and the media about how lubricants work, especially in the auto sector. Shell and group brand Pennzoil have been making inroads into the Indian market in the last few years through their chain of petrol pumps that are fast becoming commonplace in certain regions of the country. And now, they plan to replicate this success with lubricants.

With more than half a dozen Shell lubricant experts from around the world participating in this forum, a diverse range of topics were touched upon. For instance, for some of its large customers, Shell offers Endoscopy services. Now this has nothing to do with medicine, but Shell and its team of technicians can study wear and tear of engines without actually prising them apart. By running a probe through the injector unit, they can study the kind of usage and deposits on the cylinder, liners and other components of the engine. By taking an average of 45-50 minutes for a standard 6-cylinder diesel engine, Shell’s technicians can then advise their customers on whether it’s time to change the engine oil or change the quality of fuel being fed into the engine. In fact, the same technique is used with Ferrari F1, a partner of Shell for over half a century, to study its Formula 1 engines.

Another interesting topic of discussion was the use of lubricants in transmissions, especially automatic transmissions. Not only does the company prepare different lubricants for different transmissions, it ensures that they can lubricate even non-metal surfaces that are being increasingly found in new generation transmissions. Shell believes that a lube is a component as well and therefore, whether it’s the engine, or the driveline, it works closely with OEMs to deliver products that will suit requirements.

If you don’t know, Shell has invested massive amounts of resources and people in its GTL or Gas to Liquid project. Its largest project till date, Royal Dutch Shell has acquired huge gas reserves in Qatar to liquefy gas into products that will eventually contain zero or close to zero sulphur. This means, Shell will be able to meet the most stringent emission norms set by global agencies such as the EPA and the European Commission. The company meanwhile is also working on developing lubricants for environmentally friendly technologies such as Hybrids, Hydrogen, vehicles equipped with start-stop and other technologies.

The Technology Forum is the first of such initiatives by the company and it hopes to eventually replicate this event across other markets globally.