Supply security remains a top concern for many industries that rely on specialty oils in manufacturing. In particular, makers of adhesives, sealants, rubbers, and synthetic polymers often have tightly limited options in extender oil sourcing.
Any specialty process oil with only a single source in the market represents a supply chain risk that makes manufacturers understandably anxious.
One such product is a highly refined naphthenic process oil. Essential in the production of select products, this product has only been readily available from one supplier.
Signal Fluid Solutions is now supplying the market with a viable alternative: Renoil 500-X.
Ongoing Supply Chain Woes
At the time of writing, snags in supply chains are affecting the availability of just about everything. Cars, computer chips, furniture, and of course, crude and specialty oil products.
As reported in the New York Times on January 12, 2022:
“Despite some predictions that supply chain woes would dissipate, many businesses appear to have seen little improvement in supply chain problems that continue to raise costs and spill over into higher sticker prices.
‘Much of the tumultuous nature of the supply chain that occurred over the entire last year continues, and unfortunately there is not a lot of relief in sight,’ said Douglas Kent, the executive vice president of strategy and alliances at Association for Supply Chain Management.”
This is a time when drawing from a diversity of suppliers of specialty production materials is absolutely critical. Ideally, no company should be the lone supplier of these materials when a supply chain problem can negatively impact a manufacturer’s entire quarter. Or worse.
For this reason, many of our customers – particularly in the adhesives and sealants industry – have expressed strong concerns about the limited availability of highly refined naphthenic process oil.
In response, we got to work developing a specially-blended naphthenic process oil to become a secondary supplier to meet this specific market need.
Solvency and Light Color: Striking a Balance
Naphthenic process oil offers a high solvency ideal for dissolving polar materials. But one downside is the higher volatility of most naphthenics, relative to paraffinic alternatives. Color change is also more likely by oxidation for naphthenic oils.
Paraffinic process oils offer high color stability. We recommend this line as an extender, especially for nonpolar elastomers and many applications: insulation, footwear, automotive moldings, and many more, including adhesives and rubbers.
However, certain applications require higher solvency than you can achieve with paraffinic oils:
- Some hot-melt adhesives
- Colored rubber and elastomer gaskets
- Some resins and polymers
Paraffinic process oils are not as highly bound to these higher polarity materials. In some use cases, non-polar paraffinic mineral oil may migrate to the surface, reducing its effectiveness.
The use of a highly refined naphthenic process oil helps maintain softness and suppleness. The greater solvency can help maintain product performance by preventing oil migration, which leads to hardness and brittleness.
But color stability is still a high priority. The yellowing of glue gun sticks, non-black gaskets, TPEs, and similar products negatively affect consumer perception of product quality.
The solution is a naphthenic process oil with good solvency that is more color stable. This is the balance we’ve struck with Renoil 500-X.
Higher Solvency Naphthenic Process Oil: Renoil 500-X
Until now, one competitor has been the dominant supplier of a similar product. We developed Renoil 500-X to provide customers with an alternative supply source to reduce their risks.
Renoil 500-X provides:
- Higher solvency than paraffinic process oils.
- Light color with better stability than typical naphthenic process oils.
- Technical grade clarity (Saybolt +20).
Having completed successful testing trials with customers, Signal Fluid Solutions is now producing 500-X in bulk.
Helping to ensure supply security has not only driven the development of this product. It’s at the heart of everything we do.
Ensuring Process Oil Supply Chain Reliability
We’ve spent the last four decades building an infrastructure to provide our customers with unparalleled supply chain reliability.
- Local Proximity: Inventory is stocked in terminals across North America and in Europe so products are always at the ready.
- Global Reach: Our partnerships with Chevron, Neste, and Shell give us access to redundant supply points around the world.
- Reliable Delivery: We maintain a dedicated railcar fleet and partner with preferred transportation companies, enabling multiple contingency plans and routes.
When you partner with Signal Fluid Solutions, your specialty paraffinic and naphthenic process oil needs are covered from every angle.
If one terminal is low on stock, or severe weather makes timely transportation from that location impossible, contingencies are in place to serve you consistently.
Product specialists who get you what you need, logistics specialists who get it to you when you need it. That’s Signal Fluid Solutions.
Learn more today.
