API SN contains some 'synthetic base stocks'?

[wemay]

I have read this on a few occassions on this board. Is there any truth to this or is it more complicated than it seems? I do know, from watching the API SN video on PQIA's site and visiting the API website, that SN was partly developed for turbo protection etc., but nothing was mentioned concerning 'synthetics' being included in the formulations.

 

[440Magnum]

The line between what is "synthetic" and not is blurring. All oil base stocks start with a hydrocarbon of some sort, and process it. With the old base stocks, it was basically just distillation ("cracking") the right weight of natural HCs out of crude oil. But today, whether the starting HC is crude oil or natural gas, the source material is pretty much dismantled and reassembled into the desired molecules. So what does it matter if you're synthesizing PAO (group IV) from natural gas, or creating an extremely stable Group III from hydrocracking? The end product is extremely uniform, extremely predictable. And really a blend of the two (as well as some Group V esters) makes a base stock with all the most desirable properties.

 

[wemay]

That pretty much sums it up...Lol

Thanks, 440Magnum

 

[dparm]

It's pretty hard to meet SN without at least SOME synthetic content. I don't believe it's a requirement, but as 440Magnum said, the line is blurring.

 

[CATERHAM]

Originally Posted By: dparm
... but as 440Magnum said, the line is blurring.

So was it motor oil that Robin Thicke is singing about in his recent pop hit "Blurred Lines"?

 

[wemay]

Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Originally Posted By: dparm
... but as 440Magnum said, the line is blurring.

So was it motor oil that Robin Thicke is singing about in his recent pop hit "Blurred Lines"?


He sang it with a Castrol race jacket on.

 

[weasley]

The API (and ACEA and the OEMs) don't say HOW the oil companies must formulate (except for limiting certain chemicals), all they say is what the results need to be in order to achieve their specifications. If someone found a wonder additive that allowed API SN performance to be achieved with group I base oils, you can bet they would.