Novvi LLC and Chevron both announced the successful start-up of its Deer Park, TX plant, where it is manufacturing and marketing 100% renewable base oils for the lubricants industry, and 100% renewable process oils for polymer, adhesives, and personal care industries. 

Novvi said it added key processing steps and debottlenecked capabilities to make the Deer Park facility a fully stand-alone site and enabled the production of these 100% renewable and sustainable product lines. In lubricants, Novvi also actively engaged automotive OEMs to address their needs to enable future low viscosity 0W-12, and 0W-16 automotive lubricants that also deliver improved performance, reduced carbon footprint, and a more sustainable product life cycle. 

Novvi’s Deer Park plant reportedly establishes a technology platform to take its fluids into a range of process oil and fluid applications where crude oil-based fluids are being replaced by renewable, sustainable fluids. This includes fluids for use in electric vehicles, polymers, thermoplastic elastomers, adhesives, personal care, and beauty products as well as a range of wax applications.

A range of renewable base oils, solvents, process oils, and other products are being shipped from the plant now and will continue to ramp up during the remainder of the year. 

Novvi produces targeted hydrocarbon molecules from plant oils for automotive, marine, and industrial lubricants as well as a range of process oils and fluids. The company is a joint venture of Amyris, American Refining Group, Inc., Chevron USA, and H&R USA.

Chevron started as an equity investor in Novvi in 2016. This development is the latest in a series of Chevron announcements signalling its commitment to the energy transition and climate change focused on three areas: 1) lowering carbon intensity cost-efficiently, 2) increasing renewables in support of its business, and 3) investing in the future targeting breakthrough technologies.