These papers, and the symposium from which they originated, provide details on current research efforts to advance use of biobased and other environmentally considerate lubricants with the purpose of developing new and improved environment test methods.

This research is due to the increasing interest in Environmentally Acceptable (EA) or Considerate (EC) Lubricants, especially, among vessel, agricultural, construction, forestry, lumber, and mining industries where involuntary or accidental fluid leakage or spillage is detrimental to the environment. With increasing use of EA lubricants, the consumption of petroleum crude oil can decrease. Currently, biobased lubricants are considered as EA lubricants due to their environmental properties such as a high biodegradability, low toxicity and no bioaccumulation. The biobased lubricant is currently formulated with oils extracted from renewable resources such as plants, crops, trees or animals. These types of fluids are considered less toxic and more biodegradable than conventional petroleum based oils.

ASTM D02.12 Subcommittee on Environmental Standards of Lubricants promotes the knowledge and the development of standards to measure environmental persistence of various lubricants (e.g., biodegradation, ecotoxicity and bioaccumulation). These papers were the result of discussions at the second Environment Symposium on Environmentally Considerate Lubricants which was held on December 9, 2013 at Tampa, Florida.