20 Minutes With Dr. Jack Zakarian

Karl M. Phipps, Managing Editor | TLT 20 Minutes January 2012

Nicknamed the ‘The Gear Doctor,’ this new-product specialist examines trends involving energy efficiency in the gear-oil industry.
 
JACK ZAKARIAN - The Quick File
Jack Zakarian went to work for the Chevron Research Co. in 1979 after graduating with a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of California-Berkeley. For 32 years he has worked for Chevron’s lubricants business in the area of lubricants and base oil research and development. Currently, Jack serves as the global manager for driveline technology and leads a team of people in Chevron’s technology center in Richmond, Calif. Jack and his team are responsible for developing new and improved formulations for automatic and manual transmission fluids, light- and heavy-duty axle oils, tractor hydraulic fluids, power transmission fluids for construction equipment, power steering fluids and aftermarket fuel additives.

On the personal side, Jack and his wife, Marie, have four children. Outside of work, Jack enjoys long-distance running and ballroom dancing. Jack also has a side hobby of composing and singing humorous songs concerning all aspects of corporate life and lubrication, in particular. His colleagues have advised him to keep his day job.

Work Experience
From 1979 to 1991, Jack focused on R&D for base oil manufacture. He was involved in all of the process development for Chevron’s lube oil plant in Richmond, Calif., which was started up in 1984 as the world’s first all-hydroprocessing lube manufacturing plant. In addition, Jack was a major contributor to Chevron’s catalytic processes for lube hydrocracking (ISOCRACKING®), hydrofinishing and ISODEWAXING®. After completing the process R&D, he spent 15 years in the Richmond refinery as a startup engineer for the newly built lube plant.

Since 1991 Jack has worked on the finished products side of Chevron’s lubricant business. His focus area started with gear oils but has since grown to include all driveline lubricant applications, as well as fuel-system cleaning additives (e.g., Chevron TECHRON®). Since the Chevron-Texaco merger in 2001, Jack has been responsible for formula development of all Chevron-Texaco-Caltex driveline products worldwide.

Education
• Doctorate, Chemical Engineering – University of California-Berkeley, 1979
• Master’s of Science, Chemical Engineering & Chemistry – University of California-Berkeley, 1976
• Bachelor’s of Science, Mathematics & Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., 1973

Industry Affiliations and Professional Achievements
• Memberships: STLE, ACS, ASTM and SAE.
• Active with the STLE Northern California Section and has given several technical presentations to various local sections over the years.
• Served on a number of SAE and ASTM industry committees, particularly with respect to technical standards and new-performance category development.
• Author of 17 technical papers and has received nine U.S. patents.


Jack Zakarian
TLT: How did you get started in your career?
Zakarian: After I obtained my doctorate from the University of California-Berkeley in 1979, I received a wide variety of job opportunities and had the difficult decision of deciding which offer to accept. Coincidentally, during the job interview process, the United States was under an oil embargo imposed by the new revolutionary Iranian government. At the time, I distinctly recall sitting in a long line at a gas station, surrounded by frustrated motorists, waiting to fill up. On the radio, President Jimmy Carter was giving a speech stating that the U.S. must reduce its dependence on foreign oil. We needed to become not only more energy efficient but also self-sufficient. After listening to Carter’s speech, I decided that the importance of that task outweighed my other job offers, and I accepted a job at the Chevron Research Co.

My decision to work at Chevron also was helped greatly by the fact that I had served as a summer intern with the company in 1976 and was impressed with the friendliness and quality of their technical staff. When I started work in November 1979, I was given the choice of a number of exciting projects, one of which was doing the catalyst process research for a new lube manufacturing plant that Chevron was considering. I chose the lube job, and I have remained in Chevron Lubricants ever since (32 years and counting). Incidentally, my project was commercialized in 1984 as Chevron’s Richmond Lube Oil Project (RLOP), the world’s first all-hydroprocessing base oil facility.

Throughout my career I’ve realized the longer you work somewhere, the more things go around in circles. Right now, Chevron is constructing its second all-hydroprocessing lube manufacturing plant in Pascagoula, Miss.

TLT: How did you get the nickname “The Gear Doctor?”
Zakarian: After spending the first 13 years of my career doing lubricants manufacturing process research, I wanted to get exposure to the finished product side of the business. I transferred to the Chevron Engine Oil team because I knew that was a high impact, high priority product line for us.

Shortly thereafter, Chevron asked if I wanted to transfer to gear oil-product development, replacing a key person who retired. I accepted the offer, and one of my many tasks was to deliver technical product training four to five times a year to our marketers and distributors. In an effort to make the training more interesting and memorable, I did one class where I explained how gears work and then I set off an alarm signaling a gearbox emergency. I dressed up with a gear doctor lab coat and medical kit and responded to the emergency with proper lubrication while singing a song I wrote called “The Gear Doctor.” The students loved it and, as they say, the rest is history. I have repeated the performance in all my training classes and have added a number of lubrication-related songs to my repertoire.


Throughout his 32-year career, Jack has worked in the area of lubricants and base oil research and development for Chevron Lubricants.

TLT: What do you see are the major trends in the gear-oil industry?
Zakarian: Gear oil trends are dictated by trends in the automotive OEM and gear manufacturing industries. Today, the biggest trend is energy efficiency or fuel economy for automotive gear lubricants.

Gearboxes are getting smaller and lighter, while delivering a lot more torque with lower lubricant levels. The OEMs are doing this to improve energy efficiency, however, the gear lubricant is experiencing a much more severe operating environment as a result. For example, the new Class 8 trucks have so much aerodynamic styling that there is a big reduction in cooling air flowing past transmissions and axles in the truck underbody. This results in a large increase in gearbox temperature and a big stress on gear lubricant oxidative and thermal stability.

The major areas of our research now focus on improving efficiency and reducing environmental impact by a number of means: (1.) lower viscosity lubricants, which offer equal or better equipment protection, (2.) more thermally stable lubricants and lubricants with lower friction coefficients and (3.) improved film thickness under boundary and elastohydrodynamic conditions.


Jack Zakarian consults with tribologist David Castro, as the two analyze a SEM picture in Chevron’s tribology laboratory in Richmond, Calif.

TLT: How will the push toward energy efficiency impact the future use of lubricants?
Zakarian: In addition to the items I already mentioned, improved energy efficiency can result in significant changes to the current business. Electric cars, for example, use much less lubricant than current vehicles. The efficiency of polyglycols in industrial worm gearboxes could lead to the eventual replacement of conventional mineral oils with polyglycol synthetics. Many of those products are water-soluble and not oil-soluble (although there are oil-soluble versions available), and this results in a very different operating and maintenance situation.

Finally, the refill period of lubricants is likely to decline in most gearboxes because of the emphasis on extended oil drains and the consequent reduction in maintenance and disposal costs.

TLT: Are there any standards or regulatory issues that will have an impact on transportation gear oils?
Zakarian: The Obama administration has recently proposed doubling fuel efficiency standards by 2025. In my contacts with truck and auto builders, I have seen a high priority placed on developing more fuel-efficient vehicles. Lubricants offer a relatively easy way for OEMs to obtain small increases in efficiency, so there is a lot of work going on.

For example, in the past 10 years, we have seen a dramatic shift in the average fresh viscosity of both engine oils and automatic transmission fluids. The key is to lower viscous drag without compromising equipment protection. In my work as a global product developer, I have seen major initiatives on the part of the Europeans and Japanese to reduce CO2 emissions. This, of course, involves burning less fuel and, thereby, increasing efficiency.

Earlier I mentioned President Carter’s call for reduced dependence on foreign oil. Since that time, the U.S. has increased its dependence on imported oil and has not yet agreed on a long-term energy policy.

TLT: Where do you think the lubricant industry should be focusing their future efforts?
Zakarian: When I first joined Chevron, my graduate student friends wondered why I would consider employment in such a “dinosaur” low-tech field. What most of the public does not realize is the amazing and impressive amount of new science and discovery involved in the lubricants business.

As already noted, increased efficiency for both automotive and industrial lubricants is a high priority, and we have made a lot of progress with new developments. In addition to reducing viscous drag and friction, there is a need for better additives to provide protection in the boundary lubrication regime. There is encouraging progress with nanoparticles and, in fact, Chevron has marketed for many years gear lubricants made with solid, submicron borate particles dispersed in oil. There is a need to improve the surface fatigue performance of gears under high stress, particularly in wind turbines, which suffer from micropitting damage.

Finally, much of the developing world is using much poorer quality lubricants compared to those used in North America. There is a strong need to educate people in many parts of the world about the value in using high-quality lubricants, even though they are initially more expensive.

You can reach Jack Zakarian at JAZA@chevron.com.