23 May 2022. PETROFER won Sofidel’s social responsibility category at the 3SAward for non-flashpoint embossing lubricant EMBOLUBE 120 D, used in tissue converting. PETROFER is proud to take care of the safety of converting staff, who can be exposed to fire risk.

Further EMBOLUBE 120D generates significant cost savings compared to other commonly used alternatives.


PETROFER has been able to reduce the dosage by:
• up to 40% compared to white oil
• up to 60% compared to mineral oil
• and costs a fraction of expensive silicone oil
Every year Sofidel hands out an award to acknowledge the best practices and improvement actions on social and environmental responsibility by its national and international suppliers.

The technical team of judges were impressed by the environmental reasons behind the research and development of this project. However, what really moved them, was the social responsibility aspect behind all this. PETROFER takes great care of the well-being of workers within production plants, this issue of safety is often a huge problem in the paper industry.

Reasons behind the project
The oil that is usually used in the embossing process of tissue paper production has a low flashpoint. Because of the electrical charge on the converting machine, there are often sparks and this, combined with the aerosol mist of the oil, means a high risk of fire. These circumstances are a huge safety risk for the workers and the reason of high costs, to repair the machines after incidents of fire.

Apart from these issues, the manufacturing process of tissue paper causes other challenges. The alternative process, based on silicone oil, also has disadvantages. Most of the silicone oil available in Europe is imported from China, its supply is currently facing several logistical challenges. Due to the high energy consumption used in producing the silicon oil, the process is extremely expensive and environmentally unfriendly. It also poses a danger, as it is very slippery and there is a high risk for the workers to fall, if some of the oil gets on the floor.

To summarize Embolube 120 D has the following benefits:

• high cleaning efficiency
• high lubrication
• reduction of frictional heat
• non-flammable product / no flash point as water based / significantly lower fire risk
• lower total dosage = lower costs
• not containing MOAH (aromatics)
• high level of delivery reliability and availability