Lubricant Testing and Differentiation
Lubricant Testing and Differentiation
Lubricant Testing and Differentiation
DIFFERENTIATION IN LABORATORY
BETWEEN MINERAL AND SYNTHETIC OIL
Roberto Lava
Regional Environmental
Protection Agency of Veneto
The goal of the Agency is to control and preserve the environment in order to
help the identification and elimination of risks to humans and to the environment.
ALPI
(Dolomiti URBAN AREA
Mountains) (Verona, Padova)
SURFACE WATERS
(Garda Lake,
Po/Adige/
VENICE
Brenta Rivers)
and Venice
Lagoon
PADANA PLAIN
(rural and industrial) ADRIATIC SEA
3
ARPAV
LABORATORY SERVICE
2) FOOD
Organic Micro-Pollutants Unit
09:30 - 10:30
Lubricant testing and their environmental impact
Differentiation between mineral and synthetic oil in lab
10:30 – 10:45
Coffee break
10:45 - 12:00
Measurement of oil in produced water
12:00 – 12:15
Q&A. Discussion
OUTLINES
- Introduction
- Definition
- Test of the base stock
- Elemental and structural analysis
- Environmental Impact
- References and further readings
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INTRODUCTION
LUBRICANT TESTING
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INTRODUCTION
LUBRICANT TESTING
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MINERAL OIL
Purified and extracted from crude oil in refineries. Depending from the origin and
separation processes used, the chemical composition can vary.
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SYNTHETIC OIL
SYNTHETIC OIL
Synthesised with industrial production - big advantage that can be customized
chemical composition modified for the specific requirements (molecular structures
more uniform).
M
S
BIO-BASED LUBRICANT
Attractive alternative to petroleum-based lubricant, biodegradable, mostly
formulated from renowable agricoltural plant and animal resources. Lately
cost competitive and their market is increasing
New products are continuously coming out in the market for very specific application
NEW ADDITIVES/FORMULATIONS
COLOR.
Synthetic oil are TRANSPARENT, while mineral are DARKER (aromatics, sulphur).
Not reliable for the use of colour additives and dyes (darkening or whitening)
In LABORATORY
Looking at the combination of the physical properties such as:
- VISCOSITY INDEX
- FLASH POINT
- POUR POINT
- ANILINE POINT
- THERMAL STABILITY
A mixture of synthetic and mineral oil become a very big analytical challenge
study the composition of BASE STOCK and ADDITIVES.
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BASE STOCK
Chemical properties, on the other hand, are due to the presence of the additives
used to formulate them.
- VISCOSITY
- VAPOR PRESSURE
- DENSITY
- BULK MODULUS
Properties that are evaluated - THERMAL PROPERTIES
by the various physical and - SURFACE TENSION
analytical tests: - GAS SOLUBILITY
- FOAMING TENDENCY
- ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
- THERMAL STABILITY
15 - OXIDATION STABILITY
VISCOSITY
SYNTHETIC OIL MINERAL OIL
Gandelli M, http://www.maconresearch.com/blog/olio-sintetico-e-olio-minerale-5-caratteristiche-a-confronto, 2014
CLOUD POINT = the temperature at which the oil loses its clarity, i.e. develops
haze or cloudiness due to the start of crystal formation
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ANILINE POINT
Defines the temperature at which equal volume if the lubricant and aniline are
miscible.
“useful as an aid in the characterization of pure hydrocarbons and in the analysis of hydrocarbon
mixtures. Aromatic hydrocarbons exhibit the lowest, and paraffins the highest
values. Cycloparaffins and olefins exhibit values that lie between those for paraffins and
aromatics. In homologous series the aniline points increase with increasing molecular
weight. Although it occasionally is used in combination with other physical properties in
correlative methods for hydrocarbon analysis, the aniline point is most often used to
provide an estimate of the aromatic hydrocarbon content of mixtures.”
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THERMAL STABILITY
On the other hand, chemical analysis can be applied also to the base stock
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HYDROCARBON / ORGANIC ANALYSIS
To identify the chemical structures that make the basis both of base stock and
additives.
www.chromatographyscience.it (2012)
Column: 15 - 105 m
specific for mineral
separation
solvent: n-hexane or
iso-octane
2 GC columns:
one polar and
the second
non-polar
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INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY I
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INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY II
29 Rizvi (2009)
EXAMPLE I: IR
R. Johnson,
The case of the poorly
blended fluid,
Hydraulics & Pneumatics
(2008)
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EXAMPLE II: GPC
1) Pre-separation step via Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) to separate esters based
components from PAO + mineral (POLARITY)
2) GEL PERMEATION CHROMATOGRAPHY (GPC) = LC, fractionation in accordance
to the size of solvated polymer clusters (porous separation matrix) +
commercial deconvolution software to separate overlapped peak-area
31 (separation of mineral oil from PAO)
EXAMPLE II: GPC
FULL SYNTHETIC
MINERAL
Differential molar
mass distribution
(UV-PDA detector
at 280 nm)
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LUBRICANT AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Since there are limitation of the use of the lubricant (recycling is possible, but
not a indefinite recondition), sooner or later used lubricant enter into the
environment.
It is necessary a specific regulation for environmental protection and
occupational health & safety.
- BIODEGRADABILITY
- TOXICITY (AQUATIC)
In EUROPE an ECOLABEL for commercial lubricant
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REFERENCES and USEFUL READINGS
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ANY QUESTIONS….?
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