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What is a finished lubricant?
In most contexts, a finished lubricant is a combination
of base fluids and additives
The net quality of the finished lubricant is a reflection
of the quality of the components AND the judicious
choice of proportions of these components
In other words:
Putting the right things together in the right amounts to get
the overall performance someone 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 additives
can 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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Paraffinic
Appreciable wax content. Minimal asphalt.
Favored for Paraffinic Base Oil production.

Naphthenic
Minimal wax; minimal asphalt.
Largely used as feedstock for refrigeration, transformer or niche process
oils.

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) <.2%
Crude Oil Properties
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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-gallon barrel of crude contains molecules fit
for mineral base oil manufacture
Yields from Crude
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Some sources of Confusion
Basestock vs Base Oil
A Basestock is a single distillation cut at a refinery,
but a Base Oil can be a blend of multiple basestocks
put together so as to serve a lubricant blenders
needs.
White Mineral Oil vs Mineral Oil
White Mineral Oils generally arise from extra
treatment of a Base Oil, such that the end product is
of pharmaceutical grade. A mineral oil, in the
lubricant context, is a Base Oil derived from crude;
the expression is generally used in contrast to
synthetic.
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What drives Mineral Oil Refining Technology?
Circular
evolution
Engine
performance
demands
increase
Challenge to/with
existing
lubricants
Novel lubricants
meet 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 all
of the above.
Tradeoff can be performance and/or economic

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Refining Operations
Refining operations can be executed in a variety of
ways, and in many sequences. However, each
operation can be boiled down to one of two intents:
Upgrade composition
Regardless of refining technology used, intent is to get rid of
undesirable 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 resistance to 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 Composition
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 oils
directionally 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 high
saturates 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
P
e
r
c
e
n
t

S
a
t
u
r
a
t
e
s

70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140
Viscosity Index
API Group III API Group II
Group IV (PAO)
(This chart ignores Sulphur content criterion)
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The creation of a new engine oil, in principle, requires
extensive engine testing
Full API license program is very expensive $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 is
reasonably 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 Original
ILSAC GF-2 or API-
Licensed Category SJ
Passenger Car Motor
Oil (including Energy
Conserving)
An Example of BOI
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1. They are purely pragmatic
Their intent is to minimize tests, while ensuring formulation can
protect engines as intended.

2. They make no explicit statement about superiority of
one group over the otherjust about different/not
different enough to worry about
Superiority, real or perceived, is a marketing concern

3. They are strictly automotive in scopeand only
rigorously apply to engine oils!!
API Groups: Key Points
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Spillover...
Even though API groups are intended only for use in
engine oil work, the trends found in that market in
terms of volatility, robustness, etc. are applicable in
most other lubrication areas.
Therefore, the API designations (and consequences
as regards synthetic groups) get used outside the
engine 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 of
the labels associated with processing technology.
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Crude Oil Gas Oil
Lube Fractions
Light
Medium
Heavy
Group I
Base Oil
Distillation Chill
Dewaxing
Mild
Hydrofinishing
Dewaxed lube
fractions
Group I
Solvent
Extraction
Solvent
Chill
Dewaxing
Group II
Base Oil
Crude Oil Gas Oil
Distillation
Group II
Hydrocracker
Hydrogen
Distillation High Pressure
Hydrotreater
Hydrogen
Lube Fractions
Light
Medium
Heavy
Crude Oil Gas Oil
Distillation
Hydrogen
Group III
Hydro
Isomerization
(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 reflected
by Brookfield Viscosity than by Pour Point.
Brookfield Viscosity is loosely but not directly
correlated to Viscosity Index and Pour Point
In fact, a low pour point can actually hurt Brookfield
Viscosity performance in a finished product.
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Low-Temperature Pour Pt.
One major North American OEM has recently
launched an automatic transmission fluid explicitly
built around Group III stocks.
This fluids specification doesnt allow PAOs!!
Incorporation of various fluids into the specified
formulation allows us to compare finished product
performance, as a function of base fluid
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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 or
boutique
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 (wax
conversion)
I
n
c
r
e
a
s
e
d

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

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 the
engine oil market. It is not a rigorous term in the API
groups context, but it is gaining recognition in the market.

What is SL?
It is the latest API category for engine oils. It puts new
demands on base oils, especially as regards oxidation
resistance, 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 needed
to give performance kick Group I cant achieve on its
own.

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

Could have similar discussion around PC-9 for HDEO
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Future Base Oil Quality?
API Group I
100
95
90
85
80
P
e
r
c
e
n
t

S
a
t
u
r
a
t
e
s

70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140
Viscosity Index
API Group III API Group II
Group IV (PAO)
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Today, Group I still has a place
For many non-automotive applications (e.g. hydraulic
fluids, industrial gear oils, etc.) the industry
specifications still comfortably allow use of Group I
stocks
However, many historical producers of Group I are
moving into the Group II arena, so the pool will
tighten, especially in the engine oil viscosities (100 to
200 SUS oils)
Note that some user specifications (for instance,
GMs LS2 specifications) may squeeze out Group I
formulations through constraining requirements
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Part 4. Synthetics
What is or isnt synthetic has become a key
marketing question, especially in light of evolving
trends.
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 consumers
ear when it comes to synthetic. The average consumer
generally only deals with motor oil, and PAOs have a
historic position in that market.

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

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

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Traditional View of Synthetics
Synthetics have long been considered to arise from a
controlled, building-block approach to preparation
A single alpha-olefin can be conceptually coupled to twins of itself
to produce a poly-alpha-olefin
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Traditional View of Synthetics
The blocks dont have to be identical; other synthetics, such as
Group V diesters, can be built from varying kinds of blocks.
However, they have to be brought together under human control
to be traditional synthetics.
But traditions are sometimes
forced 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 Mobilbut
Mobil couldnt determine new supplier source

Mobil eventually analyzed the product (marketed as a
synthetic) to find Group III, not Group IV, molecules
present!

Given Mobils long investment in the PAO is synthetic
argument, legal action was taken before the National
Advertising Division (NAD)
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The NAD Ruling, in a nutshell
NAD decision states that base oils made through
hydroisomerization, severe cracking and reforming
processes may be marketed as synthetic.

Therefore an opportunity exists for finished lubricant
formulations, based on Group III base oils, to be labelled
as synthetic.

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Summary
A finished lubricant is a combination of Base Oil
and additives
The net quality of the finished lubricant is a reflection
of the quality of the components and the 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 physical
characteristics
API Group IV contains PAOs, a special type of
hydrocarbon
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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 and
High-Performance Functional Fluids, Marcel Dekker, New York, 1993,
ISBN 0-8247-8715-3
Selection of a Group V base fluid will generally be
dictated by a special application requirement.
API Groups are intended only for use in Base Oil
interchange, I.e. for engine oils. However, they are
useful in marketing Base Oil outside the engine oil
area.
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Summary
Groups IV and V have traditionally been associated
with the Synthetic label. Group III now can be
legally incorporated into that category.

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