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Primer on Base Oils

and Refining

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What is a finished lubricant?

In most contexts, a finished lubricant is a combinationof base fluids and additives

The net quality of the finished lubricant is a reflectionof the quality of the components ANDthe judicious

choice of proportions of these components

In other words:

Putting the right things together in the right amounts to get

the overall performancesomeone is prepared to pay for.Depending on the application, a finished lubricant can be 70

to 99% base fluid

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Purpose of a Base Oil

In a finished lubricant, a Base Oil provides two things: some inherent viscosity to lubricate

a medium in which performance-enhancing additivescan either dissolve or suspend

Loosely, then, a Base Oil is a viscous solvent

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Part 1. Crude to Lube

Agenda

A Bit of Chemistry and Crude slang

Basics of Crude Refining

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ParaffinicAppreciable wax content. Minimal asphalt.Favored for Paraffinic Base Oil production.

Naphthenic

Minimal wax; minimal asphalt.

Largely used as feedstock for refrigeration, transformer or niche processoils.

Mixed

Contains wax and asphalt.

Can be used to produce base oils, but in low yields.

Asphaltic

Primarily asphaltic residue; high S and N content.

Suitable for high-viscosity base oil manufacture.

Crude Oil Types

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COLOUR: varies from clear to tar-black

VISCOSITY: ranges from water-like to almost

solid

COMPOSITION (weight %)

Carbon 84%

Hydrogen 14%

Sulphur 1- 5%

Other (Nitrogen, Oxygen, Metals, Salts)

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Hydrocarbon Shapes

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The value of crude oil can only be realized once it has been cleaned up (de-watered and

de-salted) and separated into various fractions of similar hydrocarbons.

Crude Oil

Boiler

Gas/Naphtha

Lubricant

Asphalt/Residual

Diesel

Gasoline

Kerosene/Jet fuel

Rising vapours

condense and are

drawn off

Distillation Tower

Increasing

boiling

point

Fractions

Distillation of Crude

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Average N. American production from a barrel of crude oil.

Gasoline 44%

Distillate (home heat, diesel) 21%

Kerosene-type jet fuel 9%

Other (e.g., residual fuel oil, coke, asphalt) 25%

Lubricant feedstock 1%

Only ~ 2qt in a 42-gal lon barrel of crud e contains m olecules f i t

for m ineral base oi l manufacture

Yields from Crude

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Some sources of Confusion

Basestock vsBase OilA Basestock is a single distillation cut at a refinery,but a Base Oil can be a blend of multiple basestocksput together so as to serve a lubricant blenders

needs. White Mineral Oil vsMineral Oil

White Mineral Oils generally arise from extratreatment of a Base Oil, such that the end product is

of pharmaceutical grade. A mineral oil, in thelubricant context, is a Base Oil derived from crude;the expression is generally used in contrast tosynthetic.

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What drives Mineral Oil Refining Technology?

Circular

evolut ion

EngineperformancedemandsincreaseChallenge to/with

existinglubricants

Novel lubricantsmeet challenge

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Pt. 2. Feed to Mineral Oils

Now that weve assembled a collection of usable

molecules by fractionation of crude oil, how do we

make these molecules useful?

Key Base Oil Properties

Base Oil Refining

API Groups

Refinery Layouts

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Key Base Oil Properties

Viscosities: Defining property Viscosity Index: Temp/Visc relationship

Pour Point: Low temperature operation

Flash Point: High temperature operation

S, N content: Corrosive potential Carbon type: Impacts solvency, stability

Color: Can indicate high aromatics

Most refining aims to create an optimal tradeoff between allof the above.

Tradeoff can be performance and/or economic

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Refining Operations

Refining operations can be executed in a variety ofways, and in many sequences. However, eachoperation can be boiled down to one of two intents:

Upgrade composition

Regardless of refining technology used, intent is to get rid ofundesirable molecules/character, such as unsaturates, S, N,aromatics

Enhance Physical Properties

Viscosity and Flash Point through one or more distillations Low-temperature properties through wax conversion or

removal

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Basic Terminology

Viscosity Index (VI): Liquids frequently become less

viscous as temperature increases. VI can be described as

a measure of a liquids resistanceto this effect.

VI is a key property for a Basestock. It gives information

about:

temperature / viscosity relationship

what processing technology was used

the composition of the oil (esp. paraffinic/naphthenic

ratio)

API Groups: Properties

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Basestock Composi t ion

Make-up typically described in broad molecular groups:

Unsaturates/Polyunsaturates/Aromatics: hydrocarbons

without highest possible hydrogen content

n- and iso-paraffins = strands

cycloparaffins (aka naphthenics) = rings

other elements (mostly S, N, O)

Often, high VI means high paraffinic content

API Groups: Properties

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Key Pros/Cons of High VI

In formulating a finished product, higher-VI base oilsdirectionally offer the following benefits:

Increased oxidative and thermal stability

Reduced volatility

Reduced treat rates of some of the additives, such as: VI improvers

Antioxidants

Pour Point depressants

One key drawback: High VI generally means highsaturates contentwhich can mean lower solvency

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API Groups: The American Petroleum Institute (API)has classifications for lubricant basestocks:

Group Weight %

Sulfur

Weight %

Saturates

VI

I > 0.03 < 90 80 - 119

II < 0.03 > 90 80 - 119

III < 0.03 > 90 120+

IV Synthetic PAOs

V Other Synthetics (diesters, PAGs, etc.)

API Group Definitions

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Hydrocarbon Base Oil Groups

API Group I

100

95

90

85

80

Percen

tSa

turat

es

70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140

Viscos i ty Index

API Group IIIAPI Group II

Group IV (PAO)(This chart ignores Sulphur content criterion)

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The creation of a new engine oil, in principle, requiresextensive engine testing Full API license program is veryexpensive $500K to

$4M

Dont want to have to test everything, every time

API Groups allow creation of guidelines for Base Oil

Interchange:

replacement of one base oil for another that isreasonably similar, without need to re-test everything

Why do we have API Groups?

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Original

Approval

Base Stock

Group I Group II Group III Group IV Group V

Group I Seq. IIIE,

VE Seq. IIIE

< 30%a,

Seq. VI-

A;

< 30%a,

Seq. VI-

A; All

> 30%a,

All

> 30%a,

All

Group II Seq. IIIE,

VE, VI-A

Seq. IIIE,

VE

< 30%a,

Seq. VI-

A;

< 30%a,

Seq. VI-

A; All

> 30%a,

All

> 30%a,

All

Group III

All All All

< 30%a,

Seq. VE,

VI-A; All

> 30%a,

All

Group IV

All All

< 30%a,

Seq. VE,

VI-A; None*

All

> 30%a,

All

Group V All All All All All

Interchange Stocks

Passing Engine Tests

Required for

Interchanging Base

Stocks in OriginalILSAC GF-2 or API-

Licensed Category SJ

Passenger Car Motor

Oil (including EnergyConserving)

An Example of BOI

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1. They are purely pragmaticTheir intent is to minimize tests, while ensuring formulation can

protect engines as intended.

2. They make no explicitstatement about superiorityofone group over the otherjust about different/notdifferent enough to worry aboutSuperiority, real or perceived, is a marketing concern

3. They are strictly automotivein scopeand onlyrigorously apply to engine oils!!

API Groups: Key Points

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Spillover...

Even though API groups are intended only for use inengine oil work, the trends found in that market interms of volatility, robustness, etc. are applicable inmost other lubrication areas.

Therefore, the API designations (and consequencesas regards synthetic groups) get used outside theengine oil market, from gear oils to compressor fluids.

This is also true of Base Oil grades outside the

normal range for an engine oilthey inherit some ofthe labels associated with processing technology.

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Crude Oil Gas Oil Lube Fractions

Light

Medium

Heavy

Group I

Base Oil

Distillation ChillDewaxing

MildHydrofinishing

Dewaxed lube

fractions

Group I SolventExtraction

Solvent

ChillDewaxing

Group II

Base OilCrude Oil Gas Oil

DistillationGroup II Hydrocracker

Hydrogen

Distillation High Pressure

Hydrotreater

Hydrogen

Lube Fractions

Light

MediumHeavy

Crude Oil Gas Oil

Distillation

Hydrogen

Group III HydroIsomerization(Wax Conversion)

High Pressure

Hydrotreater

Hydrogen

Distillation

Group III

Base Oil

Hydrocracker

Lube Fractions

Light

Medium

Heavy

Typical Refinery Layouts

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Low-Temperature Pour Pt.

True low-temperature performance is better reflectedby Brookfield Viscosity than by Pour Point.

Brookfield Viscosity is looselybut not direct lycorrelated to Viscosity Index and Pour Point

In fact, a low pour point can actually hurt BrookfieldViscosity performance in a finished product.

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Finished product performance

Gp III Gp IV Gp II+ Gp III

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Pt. 3. How Base Oils are Marketed

Large part of market is for paraffinic Base Oils;naphthenics becoming more and more niche orboutique

For Paraffinics, a large part of pricing mechanism

hinges on API Group to which a Base Oil belongs Some provision for the refining technology (e.g.

Group II+ becoming a marketable subset)

The actual viscosity of the Base Oil will play a role

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Advanced Mineral Base Oils

Intensity of Processing

Group I (SR)

Group II (hydrogenation)

Group III(waxconversion)

IncreasedPerf

ormance

The grey zone of Gp II+

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So why Group II+ ?

Group II+ can be defined as an SL-ready stock in theengine oil market. It is not a rigorous term in the APIgroups context, but it is gaining recognition in the market.

What is SL?

It is the latest API category for engine oils. It puts newdemands on base oils, especially as regards oxidationresistance, volatility, and to some extent, fuel economy.

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Service Category

Current State defined

by API; today we mostly

have SJ in the market, for

pre-2001 engines...

For more info, consult: http://api-ep.api.org/filelibrary/ACF1E1.pdf

but since July 2001,

we have a marketable

SL

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This transition has been a long time coming!

Desired/defined by Auto Manufacturers Major Challenge to Group I formulations

In fact, pure Group I formulations are, in general,unlikely to survive transition from SJ to SL.

Group II, Group III and/or Group IV stocks will be neededto give performance kick Group I cant achieve on itsown.

Believe it or not, SM was being discussed before July 01!!

Could have sim i lar discuss ion around PC-9 for HDEO

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Future Base Oil Quality?

API Group I

100

95

90

85

80

Percen

tSa

tura

tes

70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140

Viscos i ty Index

API Group IIIAPI Group II

Group IV (PAO)

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Today, Group I still has a place

For many non-automotive applications (e.g. hydraulicfluids, industrial gear oils, etc.) the industryspecifications still comfortably allow use of Group Istocks

However, many historical producers of Group I aremoving into the Group II arena, so the pool willtighten, especially in the engine oil viscosities (100 to200 SUS oils)

Note that some user specifications (for instance,GMs LS2 specifications) may squeeze out Group Iformulations through constraining requirements

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Part 4. Synthetics

What is or isnt synthetic has become a keymarketing question, especially in light of evolvingtrends.

For many years, base fluids in Groups IV and V were

the only acknowledged Synthetic Groups.

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In the public eye...

PAOs probably have the reasonably-informed consumersear when it comes to synthetic. The average consumergenerally only deals with motor oil, and PAOs have ahistoric position in that market.

To the slightly less-informed consumer, Synthetic is widelyheld to mean expensive but high-performance

To the uninformed consumer, brand loyalty and/or price aremore likely to be factors in product selection

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Traditional View of Synthetics

Synthetics have long been considered to arise from acontrolled, building-block approach to preparation

A single alpha-olefin can be conceptually coupled to twins of itselfto produce a poly-alpha-olefin

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Traditional View of Synthetics

The blocks dont have to be identical; other synthetics, such asGroup V diesters, can be built from varying kinds of blocks.However, they have to be brought together under human controlto be traditional synthetics.

But traditions are sometimesforced to evolve

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Market Evolution:The Mobil-Castrol Dispute

Mobil was a longtime supplier to Castrol for PAOs

Castrol suddenly started buying less from MobilbutMobil couldnt determine new supplier source

Mobil eventually analyzed the product (marketed as asynthetic) to find Group III, not Group IV, moleculespresent!

Given Mobils long investment in the PAO is syntheticargument, legal action was taken before the NationalAdvertising Division(NAD)

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The NAD Ruling, in a nutshell

NAD decision states that base oils made throughhydroisomerization, severe cracking and reformingprocesses may be marketed as synthetic.

Therefore an opportunity exists for finished lubricantformulations, based on Group III base oils, to be labelledas synthetic.

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Summary

A f in ished lubr icantis a combination of Base Oiland additives

The net quality of the finished lubricant is a reflectionof the quality of the components andthe judicious

choice of proportions of these components Mineral Oils are Base Oils derived from crude oil, and

correspond to API Groups I, II and III.

Processing of Mineral Oils is intended to maximize

the hydrocarbon content, and to optimize physicalcharacteristics

API Group IV contains PAOs, a special type ofhydrocarbon

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Summary

Group V contains a variety of other chemical classes,including diesters, poly-alkylene glycols (PAGs),alkylbenzenes, phosphate esters, halocarbons,silicones, carbonates, polybutenes, etc.

Recommended reading: R.L. Shubkin, ed., Synthetic Lubricants andHigh-Performance Functional Fluids, Marcel Dekker, New York, 1993,ISBN 0-8247-8715-3

Selection of a Group V base fluid will generally bedictated by a special application requirement.

API Groups are intended only for use in Base Oilinterchange, I.e. for engine oils. However, they areuseful in marketing Base Oil outside the engine oilarea.

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Summary

Groups IV and V have traditionally been associatedwith the Synthetic label. Group III now can belegally incorporated into that category.

Summary of the Summary:

Base Oil selection is a large part of deliveringgood/better/best performance in a finished lubricant;make sure you really get the promised BANG! for the

you pay for