Novitas Chem Solutions, LLC
Introducing NACO’s Synthetic Base Oils (SBO’s) with an Emphasis on AN23
By Phil Levy, Novitas Chem Solutions, LLC | TLT CMF Plus November 2015
NACO Shanghai commercialized a synthetic base oil plant in October 2014. This manufacturing facility currently produces PAO40 and PAO100 based on decenes (PAO40/100) and mixed linear alpha olefins (PAO40A and PAO100A), as well as a novel alkylated naphthalene base oil, AN23.
This presentation is focused on AN23 for the following three application areas:
1)
Bright stock replacement based on AN23 and PAO100A,
2)
Heavy duty engine oil Fleet Trial based on AN23/GIII 250 for a non-VI type heavy diesel oils, and
3)
Grease Solutions based on AN23 whose solvency was found to be a unique and a must have feature that provides structural integrity and mechanical stability for grease applications.
AN23 is manufactured according to
Figure 1 via a proprietary process by reacting linear alpha olefin with naphthalene with a name plate capacity of 10,000 metric ton. It is composed of mostly tri-substituted and tetra-substituted naphthalene with a stable light yellow color.
Through extensive research and development NACO has developed a number of lubricant applications based on AN23 as a polar and high solvency base fluids for automotive, industrial, and grease applications.
Bright Stock Replacement
The bright stock replacement (SBS30, see
Figure 2) is a blend of 75% AN23 and 25% PAO100A. As shown in
Table 1 SBS30 exhibits much improved low temperature properties compared to traditional mineral oil bright stock and has a much improved shear stability and solvency when compared to the synthetic alternatives based on PIB and blends made with PAO types.
Heavy Duty Engine Oil Fleet Trial Based on AN23
This combination of benefits as described above plus the inherent thermal/oxidative stability of AN23 prompted us to formulate/develop synthetic fluids for various lubricant applications. One of the significant outcomes is the recent development of heavy diesel engine oils. Because of the inherent shear stability we formulated proprietary candidates without the use of VI improver – we made up blends based on AN23 and 250N GIII oil in a CI-4 type additive package and conducted a fleet trial involving 8 heavy duty trucks (
Figure 3). These blends (15W40 and 20W50) were tested against a commercial mineral oil based heavy diesel engine oil (20W50, API certified). The results shown in
Table 2 are astonishing as we see essentially no viscosity changes (
Figure 4) after 30,000 kilometers with minimum TBN changes (5 and 7% respectively,
Figure 5. In comparison, the mineral oil based API certified oils has a more than 30% viscosity drop and TBN change of 13%. All trace metals unrelated to the additive package (Fe/Cu, etc.) are kept minimum. The fleet trial is currently at 60,000 kilometers, with the viscosity change for our 15W50 blend showing a viscosity change of less than 2% and a TBN change of 11%.
Grease Solutions – Examples of AN23 Solvency
Solvency is essential for most lubricant applications. In industry esters base fluids and aromatic fluids such as alkyl benzenes and alkyl naphthalene are used as polar blend stocks to improve the additive/sludge solubility. We found AN23 (
Figure 6) – a uniquely designed high viscosity alkyl naphthalene with mostly tri and tetra-substituted alkyl side chains not only offers the desirable solvency but also the overall structural stability to grease applications. In
Table 3 AN23 (in combination of PAO) is used to produce the jade-like overbased calcium sulfonate grease (OBCSG). The resulting grease shows a near transparency and most importantly outstanding structural/ mechanically stability (#2 and #3 example).
Last but not least, NACO Shanghai has expanded into new areas of synthetic base oils and continues to develop/commercialize AN23 based blends through their state of the art blending facilities for private labeling as required by customers.
Photos shown in Figure 7 below are the aerial views of NACO’s Shanghai manufacturing facilities.
NACO In Operation
