Interview with Tanja Illic, Managing Director at Nanol

Wednesday, 30 March 2022

Nanol Technologies mission is to reduce global transport fuel consumption annually by 50-100 million tons. Please explain how you will achieve this?

One fifth of all energy in the world goes to overcome friction, that is a lot of energy. Therefore, every drop counts into the future of lubrication. If we can lower friction, we can save fuel and the usage of energy.  Shipping is where we started and where we have most of our customers consume on a global scale 300 MILLION TONS fuel and is the cause of emitting 3% of the total emissions going out. IF we can lower fuel consumption, as we do between 2-5% on an average per containership, not only do the ship owners save fuel cost but also emit less GHG. Furthermore, the additive we use is more environmentally friendly than our competitor’s technology. If a large cruise liner with flex 20 cruising ships used Nanol they would save 30 MUSD.

How would Nanol Technologies help or advise a company that are looking to introduce Nanol products into their machinery?

Nanol work with few companies globally, lubricant oil manufacturers and grease manufacturers and focus on a close cooperation with our partners. We operate with transparency and pass knowledge on to our customers so that they can gain market share and contribute, overall, to their countries lowering GHG by introducing state of the art technology to their markets. And in the process, they also save money.

Nanol Technologies won “Most Sustainable Lubricant Additive” and “Best Global Sustainable Lubricant & Grease Company” in 2021. What are the sustainable efforts that Nanol are doing to receive such recognition within the industry?

We are trying to produce our additive in the most sustainable way as we make some of our chemistry parts locally. Cutting transportation, cutting the usage of electricity, and water.  We order our chemicals locally and our production facility is also part of the process. Nanol is a product within the green tech, as we use Cu – a metal available in nature in small quantities as a base.

You have been Managing Director of Nanol Technologies for over three years, have you noticed a shift within the lubricant industry since the Covid-19 pandemic. What has changed?

The industry is very different from my previous industries, the tech industry in general embraces innovation, listens and is always trying to find new things. In the lubricant industry, the processes are extremely long and therefore hard to incorporate change. Change is inevitable. Lubricants will be around, it is even in some parts a growth market, however, the industry needs to develop and be more innovative and work more in partnerships and welcome smaller, start-ups and new technologies. I find the industry extremely interesting and I enjoy meeting and discussing lubricants, but in my world I would embrace new technologies differently than some of the more established companies.

What innovations are you seeing that are exciting for the lubricant industry?

Growth markets in lubrications and I would be very excited in finding a lubricant which can meet the requirement of lowering friction and include chemicals that do not deplete easily.

What attracted you to becoming a member of the advisory board for Lubricant Expo?

First, it’s an honour and I represent all serious start-ups and scale ups. I am trying to create awareness that the industry must collaborate in a different way to solve some major issues and challenges ahead. The possibility to influence and share knowledge. I find that curiosity is a main driver and learning from other advisors, listening and contributing. I want more female speakers and influencers to be visible and the aim at events like this must be 50-50. If you can’t find them, look harder! The competence and knowledge is there and we should try to better 2022.