Fuels and Lubricants

Andrew Kirk
June 2015
Not Classified
Introduction

What do you know?

You don’t know what you don’t know!
Agenda

 Crude Oil
 Refining
 Blending Lubricants
 Viscosity
 Additives
 Performance characteristics
– Engine Oils
– Gear Oils Industrial Oils
– Greases
Overview
 Lubricants complete the
picture
 They can be extremely
profitable
 We can provide customer
solutions through Tribology

Solve a problem for a customer and he won’t

forget it for a very long time
Vocabulary TLA’s & FLA’s
 Tribology  ISO
 Friction  SAE
 Viscosity  ACEA
 Viscosity Index  JASO
 Sulphated Ash  TBN
 Base Oils  NLGI
 Additives  OEM’s
Where it begins …………….
Crude oil is usually pumped from the
ground. Various types of crude oils are
reserved for specific types of end
products
Crude Oil is classified by the oil industry
by the location of its origin or by its
specific gravity or weight
Refiners will also refer to it as sweet,
contains little sulfur or sour which means
it requires more refining
Where it begins …………….
Where it begins …………….
Types of crude
 West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is an extremely high quality crude oil which
is greatly valued for the fact that it is of such premium quality, more and better
gasoline can be refined from a single barrel than from most other types of oil
available on the market.
 Brent Blend is actually a combination of different oils from 15 fields
throughout the Scottish Brent and Ninian systems located in the North Sea.
Its “API Gravity” is 38.3 degrees, which makes it a “light” crude oil, but clearly
not quite as “light” as WTI. It also contains about 0.37 percent sulfur, which
makes it a “sweet” crude oil, but then again, not quite as “sweet” than WTI.
 OPEC Basket oil is a collective seven different crude oils from Algeria, Saudi
Arabia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Dubai', Venezuela and the Mexican Isthmus. The
acronym OPEC stands for “Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries”
which is an organization that was formed in 1960 in order to create some
common policy for the production and sale of oil within its jurisdiction.
Refining
What’s in a Barrel?

1 Barrel = 159 Litres

Schematic showing
construction of the
individual bubble
caps
Blending Lubricants
 Viscosity is the primary consideration
 Various Solvent Neutral aromatic,
napthenic or synthetic Base Oils and
Bright Stock are blended to give the
desired viscometrics
 Various additive are combined to give
the expected performance
characteristics
 This process is carried out at critical
temperatures to ensure a
homogeneous and stable nature of
the blend
Simple blending diagram
Base Oils

150 Additives
SN
Detergent
R&O
Inhibitor
Bright Stock
650 HVI
VI Improver

Heated Blend Tank

What is Lubrication?
 Lubrication is the introduction of a substance that has a viscosity, between
two adjacent solid surfaces, one or both of which is in motion.
 The automotive industry generally uses mineral oils for the purpose of
lubrication.
 Mineral oil refers to naturally occurring oils that have been refined from
crude oil. These oils tend to be made up of hundreds of hydrocarbon
compounds of varying length
Viscosity
 As this is the most important basic characteristic we
will spend a substantial amount of time on this topic.
– Definition
• Viscosity is the measure of a fluids resistance to flow, the
higher the viscosity the greater the resistance to flow. The lower
the viscosity the more easily the fluid flows.
– Consider the following:
• Honey which is highly viscous to water which has almost no
viscosity at all
Lubricating Oil and Temperature
 As the temperature increases the viscosity decreases.
 This creates challenges in engines and plant equipment for
Engineers and Tribologists.
 At start up equipment is usually cold but once it is in operation the
temperature usually increases due to the nature of work (Energy).
 So the viscosity will be high at start up and low during operation
when protection of the moving parts is required most of all.
 How do we overcome this problem?
Viscosity and Temperature
Viscosity Index

 Viscosity Index or VI is a number allocated to signify

the change in viscosity in relation to temperature.
So what does that mean?
 The higher the VI the less the viscosity will change
with an increase or decrease in temperature. i.e.
High VI oils give improved cold start protection and
more protection at operating temperature
Viscosity and Temperature
160
140
Viscosity in Cst.

120
100
80 SAE 30
60 SAE 40
40 SAE 15W40
20
0
Temp @ 40 Temp @ 100
Schematic representation only
Viscosity Index
SAE 40 Engine Oil
Viscosity @ 40° = 141.2 cSt
Viscosity @ 100°C = 14.34 cSt
Viscosity Index = 99
SAE 15W40 Engine Oil
Viscosity @ 40°C = 104.0 cSt
Viscosity @ 100°C = 14.29 cSt
Viscosity Index = 140

Actual data from a leading oil company’s TDS

What is required of a Lubricant

 Reduce friction
 Prevent metal on metal contact
 Seals rings against lands and cylinder walls
 Keeps dirt in suspension – allows the filter to work
 Battles crankcase chemicals that form sludge and varnish
 Protects against corrosion
 Absorbs shock
 Acts as a heat exchange
etc etc……………….
Additives
 Detergents - Ensure engine parts are kept clean. They are usually soaps with a
reverse basicity to neutralize acids formed in combustion
 Dispersants - These are added to keep solid contaminates in suspension,
preventing sludge and varnish deposits on engine parts
 Viscosity Index Improvers - reduce the tendency of oil to change with temperature
 Extreme pressure agents - Prevent sliding metal surfaces from seizing under
extreme pressure
 Pour point depressants - Lower the point at which oil will continue to flow
 Defoamers – Prevents the formation of foam in the lubricating oil.
 Antioxidants - Improve the oils resistance to oxidation, lengthening the oil life.
 Corrosion inhibitors - Protect lubricated metals surfaces from chemical attack by
water or other contaminants
Oil component breakdown
Oils
Components Engine ATF Gear TO-4 STOU Hydraulic

Base oil/s 75-95% 85-92% 95-98% 90-92% 87-90% 99.5-98.5

Additive/s 5-25% 8-15% 2-5% 8-10% 10-13% 0.5-1.5%

SAE

 SAE – Society of Automotive Engineers

 SAE established that 12 viscosity grades are suitable for
use in engines.
 Physical requirements for these viscosity grades are
described in SAE J300.
 Oil viscosities are measured and assigned their correct
viscosity grade according to this chart, thus establishing
a standard for engine oils.
SAE J300 Chart

SAE Viscosity Low Temp. Low Temp. Minimum Maximum

Grade Cranking Pumping Kinematic Kinematic
0W   6,200 @ -35 60,000 @ -40 3.8  
5W   6,600 @ -30 60,000 @ -35 3.8  
10W   7,000 @ -25 60,000 @ -30 4.1  
15W   7,000 @ -20 60,000 @ -25 5.6  
20W   9,500 @ -15 60,000 @ -20 5.6  
25W 13,000 @ -10 60,000 @ -15 9.3  
20     5.6 9.3
30     9.3 12.5
40     12.5 16.3
50     16.3 21.9
60     21.9 26.1
ACEA
ACEA though have a slightly different nomenclature they can be summarised as A for petrol, B for passenger car
diesel and E for heavy duty diesel. The ACEA grades may also be followed by the year of issue which will be
either '96, '98 (current) but coming soon is 2000.
Full ACEA specs are:
 A1 Fuel Economy Petrol
 A2 Standard performance level
 A3 High performance and / or extended drain
 B1 Fuel Economy diesel
 B2 Standard performance level
 B3 High performance and / or extended drain
 B4 For direct injection passenger car diesel engines
 E1 Non-turbo charged light duty diesel
 E2 Standard performance level
 E3 High performance extended drain
 E4 Higher performance and longer extended drain
 E5 (1999) High performance / long drain plus American/API performances. - This is ACEAs first attempt at a global
spec.
 Typically, these markings will be found in a statement similar to: Meets the requirements of API SH/CD along the
label somewhere. Also, you ought to be able to see the API Service Symbol somewhere on the packaging:
API
 API - America Petroleum Institute
 Standardized the labeling of engine oils
 Responsible for the setting up the performance
requirements for the particular grade
 Manufactures that have an API approval will have
the Doughnut symbol on their containers.
API
API
API Progression
Gear Oil performance classification

 GL –1 Through to GL 3 are basically obsolete specifications

 GL-4 (Spiral bevel gears operating under moderate to sever
conditions of speed and load and hypoid gears operating
under moderate conditions of speed and load.)
 GL-5 (Hypoid gears which operate under high speed shock
load and low speed high torque conditions)
Simple Grease blending diagram

Base Oils
Additives
150
SN Detergent
R&O
Inhibitor
Bright Stock
650 HVI
VI Improver

Contactor / Kettle
Soaps Lithium
Hydroxystearate,
Calcium, Sodium
etc
Grease
 Viscosity is probably the most important characteristic of any
lubricant.
 What the SAE does for engine oils the NLGI (National Lubricating
Grease Institute) does for grease.
 Consistency – What viscosity is to oil consistency is to grease.
 We always refer to the base oil viscosity when we look at the
load carrying capability of grease.
Grease Consistency
NLGI Grease Classification
NLGI ASTM Worked Penetration
Consistency
Grade at 25°C (77°F)
000 445 - 475 Semifluid
00 400 - 430 Semifluid
0 355 - 385 Very Soft
1 310 - 340 Soft
Common
2 265 - 295
Grease
3 220 - 250 SemiHard
4 175 - 205 Hard
5 130 - 160 Very Hard
6 85 - 115 Solid
Thank you for your attention!