A lubricant is a substance introduced to reduce friction between moving surfaces. It may also have the function of transporting foreign particles. The property of reducing friction is known as lubricity (Slipperiness). A good lubricant possesses the following characteristics: High boiling point; Low freezing point; High viscosity index Thermal stability; Corrosion prevention; High resistance to oxidation. A solid or semisolid lubricant consisting of a thickening agent (soap or other additives) in a fluid lubricant (usually petroleum lubricating oil) is called grease. Grease is a lubricant which has been thickened in order that it remains in contact with moving surfaces and not leak out under gravity or centrifugal action. Brake fluid is a type of hydraulic fluid used in hydraulic brake and hydraulic clutch applications in automobiles, motorcycles, light trucks, and some bicycles. It is used to transfer force into pressure. It works because liquids are not appreciably compressible in their natural state the component molecules do not have internal voids and the molecules pack together well, so bulk forces are directly transferred to trying to compress the fluid's chemical bonds. A coolant is a fluid which flows through or around a device to prevent its overheating, transferring the heat produced by the device to other devices that use or dissipate it. An ideal coolant has high thermal capacity, low viscosity, is low cost, non toxic, and chemically inert, neither causing nor promoting corrosion of the cooling system. Some applications also require the coolant to be an electrical insulator. Uses and Applications Lubricants perform the following key functions: keep moving parts apart; reduce friction; transfer heat; carry away contaminants & debris; transmit power; protect against wear; prevent corrosion; seal for gases; stop the risk of smoke and fire of objects and prevent rust. Functions of lubricating grease: reduce wear and tear; sealant to contaminants; prevent corrosion; prevent rust and increases heat transmission. Coolant compositions are used for a variety of applications. For instance, a paper discloses a coolant composition having glycol as a main component, which prevents iron and aluminum from being corroded, and in particular, has corrosion preventing properties for aluminum and aluminum alloys at high temperatures. Another data comprises an improved antifreeze coolant composition with certain additives that serve to increase the thermal stability of the glycol component of a glycol/water coolant composition and to reduce the tendency of the glycol component to degrade under elevated thermal conditions. They are also used for cold preservation of foods by utilizing the latent heat of fusion at the freezing point which is substantially higher than 0°C. Brake fluids must maintain a low level of compressibility that remains low, even with varying temperatures. Market Survey Worldwide, there are 1380 lubricant manufacturers ranging from large to small. At present, there are about 180 such national and multinational oil companies engaged in manufacturing lubricants. The 1200 independent lubricant companies mainly concentrate on the manufacturing and marketing of lubricants and view lubricants as their core business. On one hand there are vertically integrated petroleum companies whose main business objective is the discovery, extraction and refining of crude oil. . While the large, integrated companies focus on high volume lubricants such as engine, gear and hydraulic oils, many independent lube companies concentrate on specialties and niche business, where apart from some tailor made lubricants, comprehensive and expert customer service is part of the package. Central and Eastern Europe account for the majority of worldwide grease usage. Followed by Asia Pacific, North America, Western Europe, Central and South America, Africa and the Middle East. A significant difference in the types of products used exists among these regions. Western Europe and North America typically require higher quality products than do Central and Eastern European users. Africa uses specialized products (such as greases for mining equipment) and the use of Polyurea products predominates in Asia. India reports a higher percentage of lithium, lithium complex and greases in comparison to the international data. This could be due to a difference in equipment lubrication demands in various parts of the India. Few Indian Major Players are as under: Alicid Organic Inds. Ltd. Asia Refinery Ltd. Bharat Petroleum Corpn. Ltd. Bharat Shell Ltd. Burmah Petro Products Ltd. Caltex Lubricants India Ltd. Canara Sales Corpn. Ltd. Castrol India Ltd. Chemoleums Ltd. Continental Petroleums Ltd. Gantley Speciality Products Ltd. Gujarat Indo Lube Ltd. Gujarat Oiland Inds. Ltd. Gujarat Speciality Lubes Ltd. Gulf Carosserie India Ltd. Gulf Oil Corpn. Ltd. Gulf Oil India Limited [Merged] Gulf Oil India Ltd. [Merged] Houghton Hardcastle (I) Ltd. Iccon Oil & Specialities Ltd. Indian Additives Ltd. Indian Oil Blending Ltd. [Merged] Lubrizol India Pvt. Ltd. M P Petrochem Ltd. Motorol (India) Ltd. Motorol Speciality Oils Ltd. Nandan Petrochem Ltd. Panama Petrochem Ltd. Paras Lubricants Ltd. Petrosil Lubricants Ltd. Powerlink Oil Refinery Ltd. Renaissance Petrolube Ltd. Sagar Petroleums Ltd. Sah Petroleums Ltd. Savita Oil Technologies Ltd. Savita Polymers Ltd. Shiva Petro Synth Specialities Ltd. Southern Refineries Ltd. Speciality Petrolubes Ltd. Sunstar Lubricants Ltd. Tata B P Lubricants India Ltd. [Merged] Tide Water Oil Co. (India) Ltd. Total Lubricants India Ltd. Unique Oils India Ltd. Universal Petrochemicals Ltd. Valvoline Cummins Ltd. Velloils Lubricants & Petrochem Ltd. Waxpol Industries Ltd. Witmans Petrochem Pvt. Ltd. Cost Estimation Capacity Blended Lubricating Oil : 10 KL/Day Greases : 1 KL/Day Brake Fluid : 0.67 KL/Day Coolant : 1 KL/Day