Ingevity
At Ingevity*, We're Ready to Make a Splash

By Olivia Jobes, Strategic Marketing Specialist, Ingevity | TLT CMF Plus November 2015

*Formerly MWV Specialty Chemicals

 

Diving in & doing more
Experiencing a spin-off is an inflection point in any company’s history, and there are usually two simple choices going forward. You can relax and sit back on the sidelines, or you can gather up your courage and springboard into the unknown. Although the latter takes more energy, you just may land in exactly the place you wanted to.

Today at Ingevity (formerly MWV Specialty Chemicals), we’re standing at the edge of the metaphorical diving board, ready to make our own big splash. Thankfully the ‘unknown’ that we’re diving into, heads first, is a customer-base we’ve served for many years – the lubricants industry. Going forward however, Ingevity wants to do even more.

In the process of becoming Ingevity, we reflected on our company’s identity and values, which may resonate with your own business. Do you have a history of success with many lasting customer relationships? Perhaps you are pushing the bounds of what is possible, knowing that innovation will be vital to your future growth. Having genuine people with the right attitude will be the foundation of your success. This approach to longevity, ingenuity, and innovation rings true with many businesses and is what inspired MWV Specialty Chemicals in becoming Ingevity. (See Figure 1)


Figure 1. Longevity, genuine, ingenuity, and innovation – these values inspired MWV Specialty Chemicals in becoming Ingevity.

Rooted in the pine forest
Although we have a new name and new look, we’re still the same partner that our customers have come to know and trust. With access to refineries on three different continents, we’re a truly global operation that supplies biobased specialty chemicals to various markets, including lubricants. Although the lubricants industry has historically relied on petroleum-based products for decades, advances in technology have allowed for greener raw materials to appear in lubricant formulations.

What do we mean when we say that we’re bio-based? To answer that, we have to journey to the pine forest. For millennia, the pine forest has been a sustainable source of raw materials for those innovative enough to see the possibilities. The pine tree is most recognized as a source of wood, and more specifically, cellulose. However, cellulose only comprises about 55% of the pine tree’s total mass. What is the mysterious matter that the rest of the pine tree is composed of? Among hemicellulose (12%) and lignin (30%), there is a small yet valuable quantity of biomass (3%), consisting of rosin and fatty molecules. These molecules, designed by Mother Nature herself, can be collected through the Kraft paper making process, which outputs crude tall oil. Crude tall oil is not only the lifeblood of the pine tree – it is at the heart of our operations as well. (See Figure 2)


Figure 2. Our roots are in the pine forest. Ingevity’s raw material supply, crude tall oil, is derived from pine trees via the Kraft paper making process, allowing us to create bio-based specialty chemicals for the lubricants industry.

Sustainability starts today
Why do we as a global society care about being green? Although sustainability may seem trendy, it’s actually been an initiative of the US Government since 1969 when the EPA made it paramount “to create and maintain conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations (1).” Over the last four decades, we’ve seen consumers and corporations alike support this initiative by supplying and purchasing products that align with our society’s sustainability goals.

We believe this trend is here to stay too. According to Cone Communications, 82% of consumers are more likely to purchase a product that demonstrates a company’s corporate social responsibility initiatives than one that does not (2). Therefore, businesses will need to adapt and align their efforts with sustainability if they want to truly meet customers’ needs in the future.

It’s good to be green
Part of Ingevity’s mission is to make it easy for our customers to go green. We do this by providing reliable products that demonstrate performance, making the decision a win-win for our customers. For over 70 years, Ingevity (previously known as MWV, or MeadWestvaco) has provided quality tall oil fatty acids (TOFA) and distilled tall oil (DTO) to the lubricants industry.

TOFA – which consists of a fatty, hydrophobic tail and acidic, polar head – can act as a co-emulsifier in various formulations. It is also a prime chemical intermediate and can be reacted to form a wide variety of esters that can act as lubricity additives. Ingevity’s different TOFA grades offer unique fatty acid isomer distributions, allowing our team to tune the product’s performance to customers’ needs.

DTO is special in that it contains both fatty acid and rosin acid species. This means that in addition to co-emulsification and lubrication qualities, DTO also confers low foaming tendency. The rosin acid molecular structure is typically tri-cyclic in nature (although some di-cyclic isomers do exist) and depresses air entrapment, hence reducing a system’s tendency to foam. Meanwhile, the carboxyl functionality of rosin acid cooperates with the fatty acid molecules to support co-emulsification. Ingevity’s DTO grades contain anywhere from 28 – 50% rosin acid, depending on the formulator’s needs.

Although our customers often identify Ingevity with TOFA and DTO, our product portfolio goes far beyond these tried-and-true products. Our Diacid 1550 is an effective four-in-one product that functions as a corrosion inhibitor, co-emulsifier, lubricity additive, and wetting agent. Its unique chemical structure (C-21 dibasic acid) sets it apart from other common diacids, allowing it to hold together tough formulations. The legacy of innovations like Diacid 1550 is what inspires us as we fuel our new product pipeline going forward.

Introducing Altalub™
At Ingevity, we practice i2V – Ideas to Value. It’s our innovation pipeline that’s fueled by fresh ideas. Through the i2V process we’ve developed our newest innovation for the lubricants market – Altalub 5300 – the first in a long line of new performance additives to serve the industry. Altalub 5300 is a multi-feature product providing high boundary lubrication and low foaming tendency (See Figure 3). Compared to the complex self-emulsifying esters currently available on the market, it displays a lower average molecular weight, allowing for more ease in formulation. Its performance inspired the Altalub name – alta, the latin root for highest or best, and lub, inspired by the customers we wish to serve. Our vision for the Altalub brand is to provide creativity and value to our customers through green chemistries. The Altalub product line is slated for growth with new products being added to the family through the coming months and years. Our customer-focused i2V innovation process will ensure that our Altalub family speaks to real world challenges faced by formulators today. We’re listening to the market and focusing our energy where it counts, on issues like increased lubricity and replacements for chlorinated paraffins, to name a few.


Figure 3. Altalub 5300 demonstrates 15% more efficient torque value versus the SEE when using T-6061 Aluminum.

Our core competencies
Our ability to serve the lubricants industry stems from the leveraging of our core competencies, the first of which is chemistry. Our people are extremely knowledgeable, creative, collaborative and focused on the customer. Deep knowledge of our raw materials allows us to coax our molecules into never-before seen chemistries whose performance is different and valuable. Our Altalub brand strategy is to provide formulators with functionality, lubrication and emulsification through our innovative technical approach. Ingevity’s technical center, based in North Charleston, South Carolina, is home to our dedicated technical and business team for the lubricants industry.

Beyond competencies in chemistry and raw material supply, we continuously invest in our distribution network which supports our global production model. Ingevity owns or has access to bio-refineries in North America, South America and Europe, and we invest in local warehousing capabilities to best serve our global customers. These competencies, combined with our desire to be the most admired supplier in the industry, will support the success of Altalub going forward.

Meeting expectations – and more
Providing additives with similar performance to industry standards isn’t our goal. To best serve our customers, we recognize that we have to meet formulators’ expectations, and more. We want to do more, so that our customers can do more. Additives should add something – right? Going forward won’t be easy. It’s going to take ingenuity, innovation and genuine people to get the job done, but we’re in this for the long-run. We’re Ingevity.

Stay up-to-date on emerging trends and news from the lubricants industry with The Abridged Addition, a monthly publication sponsored by Ingevity. Contact Ingevity’s Global Market Manager, Shana McCabe, at shana.mccabe@ingevity.com to sign up.

Olivia Jobes is a Strategic Marketing Specialist at Ingevity. She is passionate about connecting the dots between technical and commercial initiatives to meet customers’ needs.

References:
1. Learn About Sustainability. (n.d.). Retrieved August 28, 2015, from here
2. Cone Communications, Corporate Social Return Trend Tracker, 2012. Click here