“Our objective is to become the first global lubricant manufacturer that has a carbon neutral footprint for its blending process” Nigel Bottom Managing Director
Throughout the world, lubricant manufacturing is typically a very high energy use, high cost and time restrictive process. Base oils and additives are often heated to various temperatures and “blended” to form the different specification and viscosity types of lubricant products for engine oils, hydraulic oils, gear oils, brake fluids, transmission oils, and industrial oils and grease products.
The necessity to improve both the time, cost, and environmental impact of the lubricant manufacturing industry, has driven Witham Group to develop and employ an innovative new process…
We are extremely proud to have developed and now employ a unique blending system based on the use of Ultrasound. “Blendtek”, as the process is called, removes the need for base oils and additives being heated at all, therefore eliminating the use of traditional gas and or oil fired boilers for heat energy.
As manufacturers of a huge range of different lubricants, this new technique enables us to blend thousands of tonnes of products using energy from solar panels and a simple 25amp plug, saving time, energy and drastically reducing our carbon footprint. To blend a simple 10 tonne batch of oil product now takes less than 20 minutes, whereas previously the same batch would have taken 3 to 4 hours to complete in total.
This new ground-breaking process has been tried and tested by the largest technology providers in the world, independently audited and reviewed, and is fully approved for use.
To evaluate the savings to the environment, we have now saved over 26k tonnes of carbon emissions since using the process and heated the equivalent of over 144 homes in the UK for a year. Our gas consumption has been reduced by just over 93% and now in 2022, we are sharing these results and our story of the new ultrasound way of blending with the lubricant industry. We continue to expand the use of the Blendtek technology within our business.
“This exciting breakthrough is all about changing the environmental impact of lubricant manufacturing in the first place” says Nigel R Bottom - Group Managing Director. “So many environmental schemes and businesses look to offset their impact by using “carbon dumps or sinks”, and other environmental and climate protection projects. We have instead, come up with a way that prevents the creation ofhigh energy use in the first place.”
We are immensely proud of this manufacturing innovation, and we believe we are the first company in the world to blend in a carbon neutral process. We are determined to help other blenders improve their own sustainability profiles and improve the oil industry’s reputation with substantial impact.
For more information about Blendtek – please visit: www.Blendteksolutions.co.uk
We also know our customers are supported by us in their own drive to improve the environmental credentials with their supply chain. The lubricants we provide are blended carbon neutrally, the packaging they arrive in is made from recycled materials (30% minimum), the lorries we deliver the products with are running on manufacturer approved fuel efficient lubricants and the majority of the extensive fleet of vehicles are to the latest European emission rating currently available.
We also offer metal bulk storage tanks to remove the need for any plastic packaging on larger volume orders of products, plus we have a growing range of environmentally sensitive alternative lubricants which offer the same if not better performance than more conventional products, including our Prolan range which uses sheep’s lanolin as a highly effective, rust prevention and protective lubricant.
In recent years there has been a global move and increased desire for people and their businesses to choose more environmentally sustainable products, use less toxic ingredients, ensure sustainable supply chains and find ways to reduce their carbon footprints.
Traditionally in the lubricant industry, additives, chemicals and fossil-based energy have been essential to the manufacturing process. However, several years ago Witham Group challenged ourselves to review these practices and lead industry change in placing the environment at the heart of all our products and processes.
We are proud to have created a “greener culture” within our business. This means not only the best performing environmental products and services, but also our methods of manufacturing, energy use, waste disposal, packaging, fuel efficiency, storage solutions and welfare of those affected by our activities, have all been changed and are constantly monitored.
As a reputable supplier, this means that Witham Group is making real differences to customer supply chains, by offering a unique package of sustainable credentials. In turn, businesses are able to more easily reach their own sustainability and environmental goals.
The Benefits of Using Witham Group:
Witham Group have developed a unique blending system using ultrasound, which is proven to drastically reduce the energy (fossil fuel) used within the lubricant manufacture process. Many other UK and Global lubricant manufacturing companies are simply choosing to carry on with out of date blending practices and cynically use ‘Carbon dumps or sinks’ to meet their objectives. Our ground-breaking technology is a global first and is proven to blend lubricants in a carbon neutral process. This is saving huge amounts of energy, time, and carbon usage in the first instance and is helping to radically improve the lubricant industry as a whole. Customers of Witham Group can promote thefact that they use carbon neutral blended lubricants in their own sustainability statements.
The demand for safer products has led to a huge increase in the development of environmentally sensitive and biodegradable based lubricants that give higher performance compared to traditional mineral based counterparts.
Witham have developed a growing range of award winning, high performance and environmentally sensitive products: BIOLUBE, PROLAN & ENVIROYL are all designed to help reduce environmental impact, as well as helping reduce engine emissions and improve fuel economy. Further exciting developments include the launch of a new full range of non-lithium-based greases.
All products are ideal for the natural countryside, food production, waterways, forestry, and farmland, our specific range includes coolants, chain oils, hydraulic oils, two stroke, wire rope lubricant and other general multi-purpose products. Many industries such as agriculture, marine, horticulture, plant / off highway, and renewable energy companies, are already experiencing the benefits of this change. We also offer a range of low-toxic paints and coatings which are ideal for your business and home.
Our plastic lubricant containers are now made from a minimum of 30% recycled materials. This is another significant achievement. We also have a recycling scheme for all our 200 litre metal barrels. Other examples of how we have adopted a ‘greener’ approach for packaging, include: using reconditioned pallets, bulk storage containers and constantly measuring the amount of packaging used within our business by using our specialised packaging waste dashboard.
Lubricants needs to be kept safe and stored correctly, not only because it is the law, but also because it provides a safer working condition. As part of our service, we supply a range of specialist bulk storage tanks for workshops. Your lubricants are filled up in the colour coded tanks as required, and the tanks have sight gauges, taps or pumps and come labelled with the different product names and their application. Simple, clean, and easy to use, these tanks help keep your working space tidy, safe and they avoid spills from containers. They can avoid oil contamination and improve the environment by using less packaging. They finally provide important health & safety requirements for lubricant storage and with good maintenance the tanks will last for up to 50+ years.
Click here to download the brochure about Witham as a sustainable choice.
Witham Group are proud to have been awarded the ISO 14001:2015 standard, which sets out the requirements for an approved environmental management system that we operate within our business and we continue to work hard every year improving things further with our environmental objectives.
To find out more about all that we are doing to help the environment please click here or download our Environmental & Sustainability Policy
