Season 1 episode 2 - The Regeneration Race

Arthur Jury, Global passenger Car Motor Oil Market Manager, TotalEnergies

I have a lifelong passion for Motorsports.

For me, car performance and the technology behind it have always been fascinating.

It's really begin with my grandfather because he took me out when I was really kid to watch some Formula one events, rallies and I'm still huge fan, but the cars I watched then and the cars on the grid today are totally different.

Every component inside those engines has been redesigned, refined and reimagined.

And that precision doesn't stay on the track, it filters down into every car on every road.

Today, my lifelong passion and my work come together to help innovations that enhance the performance and sustainability of mobility for the next generation.

[Energy Horizon : The regeneration race]

[Finland]

Arthur Jury

Engine oil is not something that people think about, but it's really essential for every car because without engine oil the engine will stop and break in a few seconds.

Every year the world is using over 15 million tons of engine oil and roughly half of it is becoming waste oil.

[15 million tons of engine oil]

[Approximately 50% becomes waste]

That's where technology plants like Tecoil comes in.

[Tecoil Plant, Hamina, Finland]

Jussi Vakkuri, Managing director Tecoil Plant, TotalEnergies

Welcome! At Tecoil. We collect used oil from across Europe and bring it to here to our refinery in Hamina. We remove the impurities from its past life and regenerate it back to the high quality base oil.

We can do this several times and it's fully comparable with the virgin high quality base oils.

[Regeneration is a circular process that restores used base oil]

Arthur Jury 

How much base oil do you regenerate?

Jussi Vakkuri

We produce approximately 47,000 tons of regenerated base oil per year.

[Produces approximately 47,000 tons of regeneration base oil annually]

What makes our regeneration process less carbon intensive is that we use green hydrogen in our process and this electricity is produced by the nearby wind turbines.

[Process uses on-site generated green hydrogen]

The same wind power also electrifies the plant.

We are not just filtering oil, we rebuild it at the molecular level and it didn't come from the ground, it came from your last oil change.

Next, the regenerated base oil goes to the TotalEnergies blending plant, where it's turned into the high performance engine oils, ready for use in passenger cars.

[Ertvelde Blending Plant, Belgium]

Filip Van de Vyver, Plant Manager, Ertvelde, TotalEnergies

This is where the magic happens. You can see all around you the blending tanks that we use. The regenerated based oils produced at Tecoil has to be blended with exactly the right additives to become a finished engine oil.

[TotalEnegries is a global integrated energy company that produces and markets energies (oil and biofuels, natural gas, biogas and low-carbon hydrogen, renewables and electricity) and is staying the course of its transition strategy. Learn more on totalenergies.com/energy-transition]

With the recycled oil, you get the same performance of brand new oil. Thanks to extensive laboratory and engine tests, the team ensures the end product delivers the right and the required performance.

Reuse of raw materials also contributes to the reducing of CO₂ emissions compared to making oil with the new base stock.

And circularity doesn't stop at the oil, bottles or cans are made of 50% of recycled plastics.

[Approximately 50% recycled plastic]

The Quartz EV3Rr range is unique because this is a range of products which is incorporating generated basil and is approved by OEM.

The fact that we get to the recognition of the big manufacturers makes us very proud and it's a real endorsement for what we do with all our teams.

Arthur Jury

TotalEnergies and Peugeot have had the partnership for over 30 years, helping push the boundaries of automotive technology and engineering.

From engine and gearbox oils to hybrid systems, batteries and cooling tech.

[Peugeot Sport Headquarters, Versailles, France]

Emmanuel Esnault, Team principal, Team Peugeot-TotalEnergies

Motorsport competition is changing a lot. So are the energies that are making them possible. And we are committed with TotalEnergies to reduce the environmental impact from racing.

This goal has become an important aspect of the motorsport evolution.

So we have here engine dynos where we are testing how the oil is performing inside the running engine and we have onsite labs during our races to analyse how the oil is performing inside the car.

Arthur Jury

But this is only the beginning. The fact that we are at the early stage of developing regenerated oil for motor stocks excites the kid in me who first fell in love with racing all those years ago.

The race for innovation never stands still.

[TotalEnergies logo]