Where are the ANs?

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Not much talk about ANs as there is about POE and PAO, who's blending with the ANs as base oil these days? I'd guess Mobil carried some of it over from their xxxxSyn days, but still not sure if it was used as a significant part of the base blend, an AN surfactant or both? Also from casual reading, I don't really associate ANs with other consumer brands than Mobil, but surely ANs must be widely used across the industry and in the consumer engine oil market, even if just as an additive. Has anyone heard or know of what other products use AN adds and/or base oils? Do ANs even have any disadvantages for engine oils?
 
ExxonMobil makes them, sells them, and was using them in their Mobil 1 blends. They generally recommend them as a blending stock at low levels (up to 20%), to enhance other base oils such as PAOs and POEs. Back when they introduced them they were quite expensive, around POE levels. Don't know the current status or who else is using them.

I compared them to POEs in high temperature tests some 14 years ago with identical simple additive packages. In a bulk oxidation test at 218°C they showed much higher viscosity and TAN increases and sludge formation than equivalent viscosity POEs. In a coking test at 282°C they produced more deposits. Mind you these are very high temperatures where I always evaluated POEs, but I believe at more typical oxidation test temperatures they would have performed better than PAOs and Group IIIs, and would do very well in motor oils. Also the Noack volatilities were much higher than POEs.

The principal disadvantage is low VIs, and the pour points aren't so great.
 
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I don't really associate ANs with other consumer brands than Mobil, but surely ANs must be widely used across the industry and in the consumer engine oil market, even if just as an additive.


I can't speak for others but I abandoned AN's years ago for various reasons.
 
Nulon full synthetic Race Oils in Australia
Quote:
Designed to protect at extreme temperatures and sustained high RPM, Nulon Racing Oils were developed from high quality Group IV Poly Alpha Olefin (PAO) and Group V Alkylated Naphthalene (AN) base oil stocks. The PAO and AN formulation offers a range of advantages over Ester based oils in high performance engines.


https://www.nulon.com.au/products/race-oils



Quote:
5W-30 Racing Oil
High anti-wear protection package (Zinc + Moly DTc = 2300PPM)
Suitable for race and highly modified street engines
Durable shear stable formula
High temperature protection
Advanced Group IV Poly Alpha Olefin (PAO)
Advanced Group V Alkylated Naphthalene (AN)


They make 0W20, 5W30, 5W40, 5W50 and 10w60
 
Racing oil is good for the duration of a race......... but will it last 5,000 miles in varied driving conditions without going sour?
 
Originally Posted By: Linctex
Racing oil is good for the duration of a race......... but will it last 5,000 miles in varied driving conditions without going sour?


Not too sure about the Nulon as it's new to the market, but the Penrite 10-Tenths racing oil (100% PAO & Ester) is also made to be used in highly modified street cars as well as race engines, so it carries real specs (e.g. 10W40 racing is still API SN & ACEA A3/B3 with a TBN of 9.8) I've used this oil before in my motorcycles that I take to 6k miles OCI.

The same oil was used in the V8 race car that won the most recent Bathurst endurance race, that's the big one in Australia.

Aussie performance heads, want race oils that they can run in their street cars. So that is what Penrite, and now Nulon I assume, make for them. They are very good sellers.

 
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Agree...Penrite have everything needed to get the manufacturer's OCI with the addition of the elevated additives.

I haven't researched the Nulon products enough to say yay/nay.
 
That Nulon looks like a cat killer …
I’m surprised there have not been more environmental folks in the middle of this …
Maybe they are fully focused on causing black outs
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: 4WD
That Nulon looks like a cat killer …
I’m surprised there have not been more environmental folks in the middle of this …
Maybe they are fully focused on causing black outs
wink.gif




Nulon does say:
Quote:
NOTE: Not recommended for vehicles fitted with catalytic converters.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: 4WD
That Nulon looks like a cat killer …


But great for preventing LSPI as Moly & Zinc both reduce LSPI events.

But yeah....it's not for the average grocery getter.
 
Interesting bit about the high temp oxidation and coking tests test, Tom. 218-282 Celcius is pretty extreme but lines right up with how well POEs perform in turbos and the roastiest parts of an engine.
Mola, that was the thread I stumbled across again which got me asking about AN use in today's market. Any specific reasons why you guys don't really bother with ANs anymore- price:performance just not there?

As for finished engine oils, google only pulled up the Aussie blends SR5 posted that are clearly stating AN use outright, the rest of the results were mostly sales literature from base oil suppliers. The 'pros' seemed to outweigh the cons as I was specifically looking out for the disadvantages.. but not much talk about that. There were also a few resources comparing the cleanliness and deposit fighting properties of the ANs, so I had to ask.

I don't doubt Nulon and Penrite have their stuff sorted out with those race oils, there have got to be more engine oils out there with AN or even ABs, though they seem to be more popular in manufacturing industry and hydraulics than engine oils

https://www.stle.org/images/pdf/STLE_ORG...pplications.pdf
 
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