Compared with automotive lubricants , China's metalworking fluids may be flat on sales, but industry sources say that the “China Made 2025” New Deal may bring new growth opportunities to manufacturers.

Future prospects for metalworking fluids

The New Deal was proposed to comprehensively upgrade China's manufacturing industry and develop toward high added value and sustainability. As this will cause manufacturers to change the use of metal processing procedures and metal materials, it will give metalworking fluid suppliers business opportunities.

One of the big users of metalworking fluids is the automotive industry. Under the new industry upgrading policy, automobiles need to be developed lightly to reduce the consumption of energy and resources. There are many options for lightweighting, including the use of magnesium, carbon fiber, and glass fiber, but aluminum and aluminum alloys are the most cost-effective.

In the Western market, aluminum has been widely used to manufacture automotive parts since the 1990s. It has even begun to be used in car body manufacturing in recent years. However, the application of aluminum is still in its infancy in China's domestic auto brands.

The first domestic vehicle with an aluminum hood was the Chery Land Rover Range Rover Aurora that went offline in October 2014. Chery Land Rover is a joint venture between Tata India and Anhui Chery, located in Changshu, Jiangsu. The joint venture company is expected to go offline in 2016 for the all-aluminum body Land Rover models in the Chinese domestic market.

“The transition from steel to aluminum brings great opportunities to our metalworking fluid companies because different metal processing requires different processing fluids,” said Hu Youting, senior technical engineer and technical director of the Shanghai Lubricants Industry Association, to Lube Report Asia.

“I think 'Made in China 2025' is a big plus for our entire lubricants industry. The key is whether you can seize these opportunities as a manufacturer of lube oil products. We must know that opportunities often coexist with challenges,” she said. .

Wastewater treatment is one of the challenges. The first domestic metalworking fluid industry standard is still being drafted, which means that there is no official standard for domestic metalworking fluid companies to follow.

“According to our understanding, most domestic manufacturers of metalworking fluids are based on customer requirements to set standards. Some will follow the American Standard and some will be European Standards,” said a salesman of Shanghai Hongze Chemicals, a major manufacturer of metalworking fluid additives in the country. The manager explained.

Therefore, major domestic metalworking fluid manufacturers have abandoned or restricted the use of chlorine, but sulfurized fatty acid esters and sodium nitrite are still widely used.

“Sulfurized fatty acid esters provide good lubricity, but it is also a difficult point in wastewater treatment. We have developed a more environmentally friendly alternative but at the same time can maintain excellent lubricating properties. This is a global metalworking fluid company. The common problems faced," said Hu Youting.

Some metalworking fluid manufacturers have been actively exploring solutions. Yuxi Road Chemicals, located in Qidong, Zhejiang, is one of them. The company, which was jointly ventured by Qidong Oil Factory and Japan's Yushiro Chemical Co., Ltd., recently announced a patent that showed it invented a nanotechnology-based fully-integrated water-based cutting oil. Yu Xilu said that this cutting oil containing no sodium nitrite has significantly improved its lubrication performance due to the use of graphene and nano-metal oxides, "especially suitable for high-end users."

Of course, domestic metal processing plants can also seek help from Anmei. An Mei from Dongguan is one of the largest manufacturers of private metalworking fluids in China. It is known in the industry as “Zero Emissions Technology and Waterborne Metalworking Fluids”. According to Amy, the key to its zero-emissions technology is to use synthetic esters instead of traditional mineral oils as base oils. Since October 2014, Anmei has been implementing a packaged package service in the developed coastal regions such as Zhejiang and Jiangsu, including the provision of water-based cutting oil, oil change service, and waste liquid treatment and recycling services. A key product in the recycling of waste liquids is Ami's patented water-based cleaning solution, "Baoli Net."

In addition to waste treatment, other challenges include the development of metalworking fluids that have a longer life, better performance in extreme climates, and better oxidation stability.

“The equipment in the manufacturing industry is moving towards a high degree of automation, with a longer service life and the ability to work under extreme conditions, so metalworking fluids must also advance with the times,” said Hu Youting.

However, not everyone in the industry is full of confidence in the possibility of “Made in China 2025”. The sales manager of Hongze Chemicals is cautiously optimistic. She said that everything still depends on market demand.

“The metalworking fluid industry has passed a less than ideal 2015, as the domestic auto market demand has slowed down and the steel industry has continued to shrink. I don’t know if market demand can be revitalized under the New Deal,” she said.

Domestic consumers continue to buy cars, but the frequency of purchase seems to have slowed down. According to the data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from January to November 2015, China sold a total of 21.78 million passenger cars and commercial vehicles, an increase of 3.34% over the same period of last year. However, in 2014, this year-on-year increase was 6.1%.

Hongze’s sales manager said that the only industry that performed relatively well in 2015 was the portable equipment manufacturing industry that required a large amount of non-ferrous metals.

"Actually, domestic consumers' demand for smart phones and tablets is also declining. Fortunately, the market demand base is huge, so the impact is not so obvious."

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