Powers of 10 in Action

To help Lubrizol understand the Powers of 10 view of a product and the stakeholders affected by that view, we worked with Lubrizol as it developed a new product for refineries based on the PuriNox tech­nology. The technology itself is the same, the same basic approach of emulsifying water into oil. But innovation is required beyond the core product itself; it is also needed in the fuel’s delivery system. We dis­cussed the three product issues earlier: range, cost, and product appearance. The fourth potential problem with this technology is that the encapsulated or emulsified water in fuel can stay in suspension for only a limited period of time unless it is agitated. For diesel vehicles, the fuel mixture can be mixed off-site and delivered to the fueling station. For larger refineries, the diesel fuel and water have to be mixed on-site just prior to being burned. so the delivery of the modified fuel is quite different, requiring the development of a new product system. This new product Lubrizol called Emulsified Heating Fuel, or EHF for short.