Since 1928, Lubrizol has been trusted as an innovator of breakthrough solutions that drive progress across a wide variety of industries. This year, the company elevated that standard of innovation, introducing dozens of new solutions to advance mobility, improve well-being and enhance modern life. Beyond new product development, the company invested in local-for-local innovation, added new R&D centers and deepened its sustainability rigor, among many other innovation enhancements.
“Every day, Lubrizol innovators strive to create value for customers at the intersection of science, market needs and business success, and we are proud to have delivered that value in 2024,” said Julie Edgar, Chief Technology Officer at Lubrizol. “This includes how we are innovating—leveraging data and decision science to accelerate product development and innovate for impact, creating breakthrough sustainable solutions to make the world work better.”
Breakthrough Sustainable Innovations
Among this year’s stand-out new product introductions:
Beauty & Personal Care
- Carbopol® Fusion S-20 polymer, an inherently biodegradable rheology modifier, which addresses all 12 principles of Green Chemistry, providing excellent thickening, suspension and clarity capabilities to luxurious shampoos and skin cleansers with a 30%* reduction in environmental impact. This groundbreaking solution has earned seven industry awards since its launch in April.
- ZenerityTM biotech ingredient, with 100% of natural origin content, helps counteract skin inflammation caused by external stress, aging and an unhealthy diet. It leaves even the most sensitive skin calmed, soothed, healthy, luminous and younger looking.
- Novemer™ CS polymer offers versatile emulsion stabilization and sensory enhancement for diverse personal care applications, including skin care, sun care and makeup, enables formulators to be creative and develop exceptional products that meet consumers’ evolving needs.
Inks, Paints and Coatings
- Solsperse™ 29000 Hyperdispersant is a 100% active, flowable, bio-based dispersant that provides excellent pigment stability and color vibrancy.
- Turboset™ 5000HS Polyurethane Dispersion, a 50% solid, self-crosslinking, water-borne resin that provides outstanding protection for high-traffic wood floors while increasing coverage per volume and reducing the number of applications required.
Performance Polymers
- ESTANE® RNW TPU: A new series of biomass-balanced solutions under the thermoplastic polyurethane portfolio, offering up to 59% reduction in carbon footprint, while providing the same high quality and performance.
Additives
- Lubrizol® PV1710, a passenger car engine oil additive technology designed to meet the latest ILSAC GF-7 credential, and with a capability to reach Dexos 1 specification, with the confidence of delivering true value to all stakeholders.
- Lubrizol® CV9660, a new heavy-duty lubricant technology designed to reduce emissions while enhancing engine performance and extending longevity.
Local Innovation for Local Needs
Lubrizol significantly bolstered its local-for-local capabilities in key growth regions to better respond to industry needs and market demands, an extension of its trusted global presence.
- In India, Lubrizol deepened its recent local investment commitments to more than $350 million over the last year. In 2024, this included:
- Additives Manufacturing: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to construct Lubrizol’s second largest additives plant globally in Aurangabad, serving transportation and industrial fluids market across the region.
- Medical Tubing: An intention to enhance localized manufacturing of extruded medical tubing, creating easier access to life-saving medical tubing in India and markets around the world.
- CPVC Compound and Resin Plants: Construction of the world’s largest CPVC resin plant**, along with the doubling of Lubrizol’s existing CPVC compound manufacturing capacity at its Dahej site continue to progress. These projects enable clean drinking water in India and surrounding regions.
- In Asia Pacific, Lubrizol opened innovation institutes and bolstered collaborative customer and partner innovation, including:
- Lubrizol Beauty Research Institute in Shanghai: The site expands Lubrizol’s global in vivo capabilities, applying decision science to enable next-generation beauty ingredients, fostering local innovation and accelerating the introduction of differentiated skin and hair care solutions in the region and beyond.
- Lubrizol High-Performance Films (HPF) Innovation Center: Focused on fostering collaboration, the center aims to leverage collective expertise to drive sustainable development across the entire industrial value chain, accelerate innovation, enhance product differentiation, and capitalize on industry opportunities. This initiative is further supported by increased investments in ESTANE TPU production capacity and the launch of the ESTANE TPU Empowerment Ecosystem.
- In North America
- Performance Coatings Manufacturing: Lubrizol has announced significant investments to expand manufacturing capacity at its Avon Lake and Gastonia plants in North America. This underscores Lubrizol's commitment to innovation and delivering world-class solutions, while enabling faster response times and reducing the carbon footprint associated with inter-regional shipping.
Partners in Progress
Lubrizol is committed to continued acceleration of innovative solutions that meet the needs of today and tomorrow. To ensure progress in the areas that matter most to Lubrizol customers, in 2024, Lubrizol:
- Grew Sustainable Innovations Rigor: Lubrizol established clear criteria to define sustainable solutions across its portfolio, embedding sustainability in the earliest stages of R&D and product innovation, while also advancing the sustainability attributes of its most-valued technologies. Starting in 2025, Lubrizol’s goal is to evaluate 100% of all new corporate innovation projects using these criteria.
- Invested in Digital and Data Science: Lubrizol invested in data and decision science tools, AI and Machine Learning (ML), and more to enable speed to market and data-driven insights.
- Expanded Focus on External Innovation & Strategic Investments: In 2025, Lubrizol plans to introduce a strategic external innovation program dedicated to co-innovation with partners to explore and develop new solutions in new and existing markets, as well as invest in additional labs and R&D capabilities to expand customer opportunities.
“The biggest shift for Lubrizol is we are now moving faster than ever before,” said Abhishek Shrivastava, VP of Innovation & Decision Science “We have adopted an agile innovation model—start small, learn fast, fail early, scale quickly. We are taking a lot of small bets in big domains. We are not just providing chemistry or products; we are enabling solutions to significant world problems.”
To learn more about these innovations and Lubrizol’s award-winning portfolio, visit www.lubrizol.com, and click here to view all of our innovations from 2024.
*Comparative calculations made with acrylate performance benchmark per assumptions Customers need to assess impact on their finished formulations based on the use rate of each ingredient.
**World’s largest based on single-site capacity for CPVC resin
About The Lubrizol Corporation
The Lubrizol Corporation, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is a science-based company whose specialty chemistry delivers sustainable solutions to advance mobility, improve well-being and enhance modern life. Every day, the innovators of Lubrizol strive to create extraordinary value for customers at the intersection of science, market needs and business success, driving discovery and creating breakthrough solutions that enhance life and make the world work better. Founded in 1928, Lubrizol has global reach and local presence, with more than 100 manufacturing facilities, sales and technical offices and 8,000 employees around the world. For more information, visit www.Lubrizol.com.
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