If an oil is labeled as 'full synthetic' should it contain paraffin ?
- Thread starter Otto Mann
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Great question Please illuminate us if you find an 
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answer
MolaKule
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A paraffin hydrocarbon is also called an alkane, and can be one of any of the saturated hydrocarbons having the general formula CnH2n+2, C being a carbon atom, H a hydrogen atom, and n an integer.
ALKANE https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshe...ules_(Organic_Chemistry)/Hydrocarbons/Alkanes
If you are referring to an "isoparaffinic" it is a synthesized hydrocarbon produced by the GTL process and is a synthetic fluid.
What oil are we discussing and for what application?
Chemistry is a tricky language - the same word is used in different ways for different meanings. You may interpret "paraffin" in its common usage sense - that being a different name for kerosene. However as MolaKule points out, in technical use the term "paraffin" means saturated hydrocarbon molecules (aka alkanes), that being hydrocarbon molecules with no multiple [C=C or C≡C] bonds. Alongside paraffinic there is naphthenic and aromatic as descriptors for other hydrocarbon molecule types.
So yes, paraffin and synthetic are not mutually exclusive.
So yes, paraffin and synthetic are not mutually exclusive.
Tnks for the replies. I would like to keep the question brand non specific if at all possible.
For cost reasons, as an experiment, I recently switched to a different oil, brand name, labeled -full synthetic- I learned after the fact that it contains paraffin (does not qualify it as being synthetic paraffin) the brand which I switched from makes it a point to identify paraffin as undesirable, especially in an engine oil which is promoted as being full synthetic.
I became curious as to whether or not paraffin indicated other than a 'synthetic' formulation; hence the topic.
For cost reasons, as an experiment, I recently switched to a different oil, brand name, labeled -full synthetic- I learned after the fact that it contains paraffin (does not qualify it as being synthetic paraffin) the brand which I switched from makes it a point to identify paraffin as undesirable, especially in an engine oil which is promoted as being full synthetic.
I became curious as to whether or not paraffin indicated other than a 'synthetic' formulation; hence the topic.
It sounds like you're in Germany. Over here in the US and every other country, everything API Group III and above is legally full synthetic. Over there in Germany and only in Germany, only everything API Group IV and above is legally full synthetic.
You are following the history 22 years behind time. Read the "'What is synthetic?' wars" (the wars that happened in the late 1990s, the treaty signed in April 1999) linked below:
A defining moment for synthetics: Parts I & II -- Katherine Bui, Lubricants World, Oct/Nov 1999
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What you're reading is more marketing than science. The science has been covered fairly well in this thread. Follow the science, not the hype.
Now you know.
I know more than I did AND found a great thread on this site on this very topic BUT the conundrum remains:
which is the true synthetic-the one with or without paraffin ?
Already answered.
If an oil is labeled as 'full synthetic' should it contain paraffin ?
Curious-does/should an oil containing paraffin preclude it from being labeled as a full synthetic?
bobistheoilguy.com
Twice.
Not really -terms like 'legally synthetic' and an article ('99) which begins with: 'While the field is not wide open, a new ruling confirms that the definition of "synthetic oil" remains largely in the hands of marketers" pretty much confirms that the old advice is still the best advice: caveat emptor .
Again- thank you all for the replies.
Again- thank you all for the replies.
That was a bit of sarcasm. The deal is that back in the day people confused the fact that Pennzoil advertised using "paraffinic base stocks" with the idea that their oil contained paraffin wax, which allegedly lead to the brand's notorious reputation for slugging. In fact the oil was no more sludge prone than any other and the fact that it was a paraffinic base stock did not mean it contained paraffin wax, as molakule explained.
There is no straight forward answer to your question. From a scientific standpoint (marketing aside), a "paraffin" is any saturated hydrocarbon. Whether a paraffin is synthetic or conventional, it can be both or neither. There's paraffinic base oils in every base oil group.
Pure Performance 70N, for example, is a paraffinic low viscosity group II conventional base oil.
PAO base oils are polymerized, fully saturated hydrocarbons with no aromatic rings and a branched paraffinic structure.
"Paraffins" exist in all 5 base oil groups, therefore it cannot be exclusive to conventional or synthetic, regardless of how you define conventional and synthetic.
Any use of the word "paraffin" in a brand's description of their product is a marketing term.
So you weren't really interested in a technical (and slightly chemical) answer about paraffinic compounds, you were instead interested in trying to reignite the oft-debated "what's a real synthetic oil" debate?
MolaKule
Staff member
You never really explained your understanding of paraffin or "paraffinic" and you seem to be relying on marketing language, rather than the science of organic chemistry, to shape your understanding of the term(s).
RDY4WAR and others have fully explained that in organic chemistry paraffinic describes the structure of the hydrocarbon (alkane or alkane-like) molecule which is found in all base oil groups.
Bringing up past marketing decisions by business groups or some marketing language in your brand's literature is simply irrelevant to the discussion.
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