GL: Fw: Motor Oil Additives During Manf. Process

[jonathan olenick]

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: AMSOIL- Performance Oil Technology
<dave at performanceoiltechnology.com>
To: Jon <jdolenickmd at yahoo.com>
Sent:
Thursday, July 16, 2009 5:00:04 AM
Subject: Motor Oil Additives During Manf.
Process

16 Jul 2009

Dear Jon,

After reading my previous motor oil training
email you may
ask yourself how can a motor oil possibly survive with all
the
possible sources of contamination, wear and deposits.
The answer lies in
proper blending of additives during the
manufacture of the oil as well as in
proper air and oil
filtration. 

The additives we are referring to are not
aftermarket oil
additives. Aftermarket oil additives, regardless of their
exaggerated claims, infomercials and testimonials are not
required and in many
cases are detrimental to the proper
function of a motor oil. These has been no
documented
laboratory or field tests that I am aware of performed by
auto and
equipment manufacturers that support the use of any
type of aftermarket oil
additives. In fact, the Federal
Trade Commission (FTC) has recently charged
many of these
aftermarket additive marketers and/or manufacturers with
false
and deceptive advertising. This topic will be covered
in detail section 5 of
this book

The additives that I am referring to that an oil company
blends in
are specifically designed and engineered to impart
specific properties to a
finished motor oil formulation.
These specific additives cause a motor oils
life cycle to be
extended and/or reduce the rate at which undesirable changes
take place while others improve properties already present
in the base oil.
Before I cover the additives I will provide
some background information on
where oil actually comes from
and how it is produced.

bMOTOR OIL
REFININGb

I often recall the story that a friend in the crude oil
refining
business told me. Being in the oil business for
most of his career he would
regularly run into people that
would ask which of his companies oil wells
pumped 5W-30,
which wells pumped 10W-30 and which oils pumped diesel oils
and
so on. I get a good laugh out of it every time I think
about it. The fact is
the large oil companies do not exist
to produce motor oils exclusively.B 
Motor oils are made from the more viscous portion of the
crude oil that
remains after removal by distillation of the
gas and oil lighter fractions.B 
Crude oil rarely ever is
used without processing except in some specific cases
for
fuel to operate power plants or for certain asphalts. In
most cases it is
first separated into different fractions
that require very detailed additional
processing in order to
begin to develop lubricating oils with specific
properties,
such as a 5W-30, 10W-30 or a 15W-40 diesel motor oil. The
first
and foremost products produced from drilling are in
order to refine the crude
oil to produce gasoline and diesel
fuels, kerosene and home heating oils.
There are also several different types of crude oil
depending on what part of
the world it comes from.B  Crude
oils can come in light grades that yield
primarily gasoline
to heavy black crude oil.B  The hydrogen carbon atom
structures of the crude oils vary a great deal as do the
impurities, such as
sulfur or wax.B  Some crude oil is only
suitable for manufacturing gasoline,
diesel and fuel oil and
by-products, while others are preferred for
manufacturing
lubricating oils.B  The three basic types of crude oil stocks
are paraffinic, napthenic and asphaltic.B  Lubricating oils
are generally
produced from paraffinic and napthenic stocks.
Different types of crude stocks
allow refiners to select
those that, when fully refined, will provide base
stocks
that meet their specific needs.B  Keep in mind that companies
use
different quality base stocks to manufacture their
finished products.B  Some
companies may choose to use a very
high quality base stock, in addition to
carefully selected
and blended additives, while others may choose a lower
quality, and thus less costly, base stock combined with more
chemical
additives to yield a similar product, however the
quality and performance can
vary significantly, even though
both products may meet the same
specifications. Also keep in
mind that although both products may meet the
same
specifications, one has no way of knowing at which end of
the
specification range the product fall into and how that
product meets those
specifications on a continuing basis.
The old saying, you get what you pay
for, holds true for
many petroleum products (both lubricating oils and
gasoline
and diesel fuel) just as it does for most other products.

The first
step in processing crude oil is to remove
inorganic salts and water, which can
form acids during
processing and damage refinery equipment.B  After the crude
is de-salted it is pumped through a complex series of heated
pipes in order to
vaporize and enter what is called a
fractioning tower where groups of
hydrocarbons are separated
according to their boiling ranges. This occurs
because the
fractioning tower is at different temperatures from the top
to the
bottom, with the bottom being the hottest. Light
hydrocarbons such as raw
gasoline, called Naptha, are
vaporized to the top of the tower and then
condensed to form
liquid again by cooling.B  The lower parts of the tower are
much hotter and trap the heavier hydrocarbons such as diesel
fuel, kerosene,
heating fuel oil and other heavy oils, which
are subsequently pumped to
different fractioning towers for
further processing.B  The products remaining
in the very
bottom of the fractioning tower are typically used for
making
asphalt for roads (f).

So, as you can deduce from this very simplified
explanation
of the crude oil refining process, motor oil is not always
the
prime objective. In fact, it is a by-product remaining
after the valuable
gasoline and diesel fuels and kerosene
and home heating oils are processed.B 
Once the crude oil is
separated and further refined to a point where a
specific
type of motor oil can be produced, many additional additives
are
required to be blended in to produce a finished product
ready to bottle and
distribute. There are also many
different refining processes and it is not my
intention to
cover these processes here, only to provide you with a very
basic
understanding of how petroleum motor oil is produced.

POUR POINT DEPRESSANTS
Petroleum motor oils have waxes and paraffin that come out
of the ground with
the crude oil.B  It is very expensive to
refine out these waxes and
paraffinbs. There is a process to
do this, called hydroprocessing, which I
will discuss in
later sections of this book, however average quality oils
are
not hydroprocessed.B  Instead, pour point depressants are
added. These
additives are required in order to obtain low
pour points.B  They do not
prevent the formation of wax
crystals as temperatures decline, but rather
lower the point
at which wax crystals form and also restrict the growth of
wax
crystals. 

VISCOSITY INDEX IMPROVERS

A motor oil must not be too viscous
(thick) at low
temperatures in order to promote easy cold weather starting
but
at the same time it must not be too fluid (thin) at
higher operating
temperatures in order to prevent excessive
wear and prevent excessive oil
consumption. Viscosity Index
Improvers (VIbs) are blended in a motor oil in
order to
impart specific performance characteristics to the oil under
these
operating extremes. For example, this allows for a
motor oil to act like a
10-weight when it is cold but when
it warms up to operating temperatures it
acts as a 30-weight
oil. 

The determination of how well a particular motor
oil meets
these criteria is called the Viscosity IndexB  (VI).B  VI is
strictly an empirical number and indicates the effect of
change in temperature
on viscosity. The lower the VI, the
larger a change in viscosity with
temperature changes.
There is a specific ASTM (American Society of Testing
Materials) Test D-2270 that is used to determine the VI of a
motor oil.

The
problem that can occur in petroleum based motor oils
with VIbs is that under
heat, load and shear forces the
molecules of the VI tend to change shape from
a round shaped
molecular structure to a straightened, or aligned, molecular
structure. When this occurs the VIbs are subject to
degradation due to shear
forces created inside the engine,
which can cause a temporary loss of the oils
specified
viscosity.B  Under shear loads the molecules in the VIbs
align
themselves in the direction of the shear stresses so
there is less resistance
to flow. As the oil cools and the
shear forces are no longer present the
VIbs return to their
original molecular configuration and the original
viscosity
is returned to the oil.B  Where serious problems can occur
are under
extreme heat and shear loads where the molecular
structure of the VIbs are
permanently destroyed and will not
return to their original configuration when
the oil cools
and shear stresses are no longer present.B  This is the
prime
reason that, as discussed previously, small engine
manufacturers and some
diesel engine manufacturers specify a
straight weight petroleum oil with no
VIbs. 

In general, the greater the spread in viscosity of an oil,
the more
susceptible the oil is to shear under load and heat
due to the greater
quantity of VI Improvers required to
achieve the spread, such as in a 5W-50
motor oil, for
example.B  Please keep in mind that these issues with VIbs
are in relation to petroleum motor only. Synthetic multi-
viscosity motor oil
is extremely shear resistant. I will
cover synthetic motor oils in detail in
section 14 of this
book.

DETERGENTS AND DISPERSANTS

With the development of
heavy-duty diesel engines plain
petroleum oil could not meet the requirements
of these
engines.B  Deposits left by the oil caused piston ring
sticking and
rapid wear very early on as well as blocked oil
flow passages.B  Soon after
this began occurring oil
manufacturers started to use a soap blend in the oil,
which
kept internal components clean by significantly reducing the
formation
of deposits.B  Over the years much more advanced
chemicals were developed and
used as detergents and
dispersants.B  

The use of these detergents does not
clean an engine but
rather serve to delay the formation of deposits and reduce
the rate at which they accumulate.B  They do this by
neutralizing the acidic
by-products of combustion.B  One of
the main reasons why people were told to
change their oil
frequently is to remove the contaminants from the oil before
the oils capacity to neutralize and hold them is exceeded.

Dispersants are
chemicals blended into the oil that suspend
materials that can cause sludge,
varnish and lacquer
resulting from oil oxidation to form. 

The measure of an
oils ability to neutralize these acidic
by-products of combustion is called
the Total Base Number
(TBN). It is a measure of an oils reserve alkalinity.
The
higher the TBN, the better an oils ability to neutralize
acids.B  A TBN of
7 is typical for an average quality
gasoline engine petroleum oil.B  Premium
quality extended
drain interval synthetic oils typically have a TBN of 11-12.
Petroleum and synthetic diesel oils have higher TBN values
due to the
increased acidic by-products of combustion
created by the diesel fuel
combustion process. These values
can range from 8-11 up to 12-14 for premium
quality diesel
oils.

ANTI-FOAM AGENTS

Most motor oil has some type of
anti-foam additive blended
in. This is due to the fact that petroleum oils are
subjected to extreme agitation primarily due the high RPM of
a rotating
crankshaft and also the movement and circulation
of oil in valvetrain
components.B  The action created by the
oil pump and the effect of blow-by
gasses mixing with the
oil also causes foaming.B  A motor oil that foams
excessively
cannot perform the job of properly lubricating an engine
under
severe operating conditions, or even in average
operating conditions.B  When
air bubbles form in the foam,
the anti-foam additives will attach themselves
to the air
bubbles in the foam and cause the foam to weaken which in
turn
causes other foam bubbles attached to each other to
collapse.B  The anti-foam
additive essentially breaks down
the foam when the oil film surrounding the
air bubbles is
ruptured. There is an ASTM D-892 test that measures a motor
oils ability to resist foaming. 

RUST AND CORROSION INHIBITORS

Rust
inhibitors are special compounds blended into a motor
oil that, in addition to
the motor oil itself, attach
themselves to internal components and prevent the
formation
of rust by forming a barrier that prevents water from
contacting the
metal surface. This additive is extremely
tenacious and once it attaches
itself to the component it
will remain there in order to do its job,
especially during
engine shutdown. This additive is sacrificial in nature and
does deplete with time in service.

The only way to determine if these
additives are still
present in sufficient quantity to effectively prevent rust
is to perform oil analysis testing or use the specific
brand/type of motor oil
according to the oil manufacturers
specified change intervals.B  There are a
two brands of
premium quality synthetic motor oils on the market that are
designed and engineered for extended drain intervals of
25,000 miles/1-year
and one brand engineered for up to
35,000 miles/1-year in which, when used
according to the oil
manufacturers recommendations, will provide exceptional
rust
and corrosion prevention for the entire mileage/time
interval.B  In order
to use any motor oil past the oil
manufacturers recommendations oil analysis
testing must be
used. Oil analysis testing will be covered in section 20 of
this book.

Corrosion inhibitors are blended into motor oil and serve
the
functions of preventing corrosion of internal engine
bearings made from a mix
of copper, lead, aluminum and tine.
The acids formed in the oil are extremely
corrosive and are
a result of the combustion process of gasoline and diesels
fuels as well as the additives that were blended in with the
fuel itself.B 
These by-products of combustion are deposited
on the cylinder wall portions
that are exposed to the
combustion flame front above the top of the piston and
then
carried into other components by the oil. Direct blow-by is
also a cause
of acidic contaminants in the oil.B  The amount
of blow-by in a particular
engine is dependent on many
factors, with the primary one being the
effectiveness of the
seal between the piston rings to the cylinder.B  The
acids
formed as a result of this will corrode internal parts such
as bearings,
pistons/cylinders/rings, rockers, camshafts,
valves, timing gear teeth and
other ferrous and non-ferrous
components within the engine.

There are two
primary types of corrosion inhibitor chemicals
and functions:B  one is for the
additive in the oil to
chemically bond to the internal parts and provide a
sacrificial barrier and the other is to actually neutralize
the acids so that
the corrosive potency is reduced to a
level where it cannot do any internal
damage. This additive
depletes with time in service.

Common additives for
these purposes include Zinc, Phosphorus
and Zinc Diethyl Dithiophosphate
(ZDDP), Calcium and Barium.
Barium Sulfonates and Calcium Phenates are common
chemicals
that are engineered with a high amount of the alkali metals
Barium
and Calcium in order to provide adequate
neutralizatization capability
specifically due to the
alkalinity of these metals. Sulfur content in both
gasoline
and especially diesel fuel are one of the primary causes of
acids in
a motor oil.

As a side note relative to rust and corrosion protection: I
currently hold two U.S. Patents for corrosion prevention
between two securely
bolted together metal parts that must
still have metal-to-metal contact and
also for preventing
corrosion on exposed brake rotors. The specific
application
of one of these patents will be discussed in the special
bonus
section of this book and will be beneficial knowledge
to any automotive
enthusiast and may help you to solve
current problems when combined with my
other service
procedures that have been proven over many years and
millions of
vehicles to prevent one of the most common
automotive braking problems from
occurring.


OXIDATION INHIBITORS

Oxidation is the result of oxygen mixing
with oil at engine
operating temperatures. It is not so much the amount of
oxygen absorbed by the oil that is important, but the amount
of oxidation
products formed. Oxidation causes an increase
in oil viscosity as well as the
formation of acids, resins,
lacquers and varnish on internal parts, and
especially on
pistons and piston rings. More severe oxidation occurs as
engine
operating temperatures increase. 

The effect of varnish, resins and lacquers
on pistons and
piston rings can cause a decrease in the amount of heat
transfer between the piston and cylinder as well as stuck
piston rings,
leading to severe engine damage over a period
of time.B  If the temperatures
continue to increase to
extremes then these deposits will continue to oxidize
into
very hard carbon type materials.B  When this hard carbon
material meets
with combustion residues and water, sludge is
formed. Sludge can do further
damage such as plug and block
critical oil passageways and oil pump pick-up
screens.

In order to decrease the effects of oxidation, oxidation
inhibitors
are used which disrupt the chemical reaction that
is responsible for the
formation of the oxidation as well as
chemicals that actually decompose the
oxidation products
already formed.B  The lacquers, resins and varnish are not
only formed at high temperatures by the oil, but also a low
to medium
operating temperatures by the fuel combustion
process.B  There are numerous
very complex chemicals that
are used as oxidation inhibitors and it is not my
intention
to go into the detail of what these chemicals actually are
in this
book.

ANTI-WEAR ADDITIVES

Anti-wear additives are mainly used in order to
reduce the
effects of engine operating conditions when a full
hydrodynamic oil
film cannot be maintained which, as
discussed previously, are known as
boundary lubrication
conditions of slow speed and low load.B  These anti-wear
additives primarily act as friction reducers that prevent
metal-to-metal
contact. Zinc and phosphorus are common anti-
wear additives.

Under high
engine speeds, high loads and operating
temperatures, even though hydrodynamic
lubrication is
present, extreme pressure (EP) additives are sometimes used
by
certain oil manufacturers to reduce friction further and
control wear.B  EP
additives are also used extensively in
gear lubes. The chemicals used as EP
additives include
either sulfur, phosphorus, chlorine, molybdenum disulphide
or a blend of these additives depending on the specific
application. Not all
motor oil manufacturers use EP
additives as they can also have a detrimental
effect on
other engine operating parameters and can also be highly
corrosive
to certain metallurgical bearing compositions and
can also be incompatible
with alkaline detergent additives.

Best Regards Jon

Sincerely,

Dave Mann
Lubrication Specialist - Truck/Automotive Engineer
Performance Oil Technology,
L.L.C.
1-888-879-1362
3698 Leeside Lane
Traverse City, MI 49686
http://www.performanceoiltechnology.com


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