XII Meet the Market Conference
XII Meet the Market Conference – The XII Meet the Market International Conference – South America, which took place on July 6th and 7th at the Hotel Windsor Florida – Rio de Janeiro, with an audience of 352 people, was the first in-person lubricant event after the pandemic period and brought participants good technological news and a privileged space for networking in the lubricants market, bringing together around 84 companies linked to the sector.
The first day of the event has already started in an impactful way, with the lecture on the Brazilian Economic Scenario and its perspectives, given by the Chief Economist of the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro – FIRJAN, Jonathas Goulart, who brought relevant information about what is happening in Brazil and in the world in the economic area and the impacts on the industrial sector.
The numbers of the Brazilian lubricant market were presented, as usual, by the editor of Lubes em Foco magazine, Pedro Nelson Belmiro, followed by the producer’s vision for the segment, in the words of the CEO of Iconic Lubrificantes, leader of the Brazilian market.
A panel on electromobility and its impacts on the lubricant industry featured special lectures with a high level of knowledge, given by the Associate Professor of the Energy Planning Program at COPPE/UFRJ, Roberto Schaefer, and the Company’s Superintendent of Petroleum Derivatives and Biofuels of Energy Research – EPE.
It was clear to the participants that automotive electrification is irreversible and will be implemented with certainty, however, the deadline for this in a country like Brazil is what becomes the big question of the industry. There is no one who can determine a precise time for the total replacement of the fleet by electric vehicles, but the trend is that it will come at some point.
Sustainability was one of the main themes of the event and was approached with great objectivity and precision by the participants of the second panel. The Downstream Executive Director of the Brazilian Institute of Oil and Gas – IBP, Valéria Amoroso Lima, presented relevant aspects about sustainability and ESG concepts in the Oil Industry. KLINE International Consulting Group’s Director of Energy Practices Management Konstantin Melnichuk showed how the vision of sustainability creates momentum for the used oil and re-refining industry, and Aylla Kipper, Institutional Relations and Sustainability Manager at Lwart Soluções Ambientais on the role of re-refining in the lubricant industry.
The fear that electrification could have a major impact on the lubricants industry was alleviated, at least for a long time, with a talk by Chris Castanien, Technical Services Manager at Chevron Base Oil, who presented impressive figures for the industry, showing that Internal combustion engines will still dominate road transport for decades to come, using better quality lubricants.
The impact of sanctions on Russia and the recovery of base oils in the United States after the pandemic was presented by Amanda Hay, Deputy Managing Editor for the Americas at ICIS, who brought her information by video, as health prevented her from traveling during the period. of the event.
A fraternization cocktail served at the end of the first day, in which the participants could better enjoy the exhibition space, where national and foreign companies’ stands presented their products and services, and also where business and networking could be carried out with tranquility.
The second day was marked by lectures by experts bringing the best technological developments in lubricants. Alexandre Araújo, Croda’s account manager, spoke about the technology of silicone-based additives, while Eduardo Lima, TS&D associate scientist at Dow Química spoke about the benefits of using Polyalkylene Glycol in compressor lubricants.
Four lectures formed the subject for the technology panel. More sustainable technologies for the Off-Higway market was the theme of the lecture by Edson Fonseca from Lubrizol, while the Global Product Manager for Transmissions at Infineum Brasil, Dr. Leandro Benvenutti spoke about ultra low viscosity fluids for a sustainable future. Completing the panel, Afton Chemical, represented by its Sales Director Brazil, showed the way to electrify heavy commercial vehicles and Marcos Davi dos Santos, Sales Manager for Latin America at Chevron Oronite, spoke about the changes in technologies for engine for hybrid vehicles.
At the end of the Meeting, gifts were drawn to the participants.
According to the directors of Editora Onze, Gustavo Zamboni and Pedro Nelson Belmiro, the event exceeded expectations and many compliments and words of satisfaction with the event were received in the evaluations.
