I was watching Trucks! the other day on Spike TV and Stacey was comparing standard oils, standard and synthetic blends, and synthetics.

He said that standard oils come from crude oil, which I already knew. But, then he said that synthetics were made in a labratory. Does any part of synthetic oil come from crude oil or is it made entirely of something else?

Thanks for aiding my curiousity .

Nightrain

 

Go over to www.bobistheoilguy.com. There is a complete explanation of syn oils, PAO (polyalphaolefin) + additives.

 

synthetic dinosaurs.
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

I often had the same question. I mean really...$5 a quart is cheap if some engineer is assembling one molecule at a time.

 

From what I understand, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, they start with lighter hydrocarbons, like propane, and combine 'em to form the heavier oils they need. So they still come from the ground. It's just a more expensive process.

 

The vast majority of "synthetic" oils are blends anyway, containing various percentages of dino oil. I'm pretty sure even Mobil1 uses dino oil as a "carrier", meaning that it is there primarily to support the all-important additive package.

 

Those SpikeTV shows are not much more than infomercials. I'll bet there were Royal Purple or Syntec bottles all over the place.

Here are the synthetic oil "groups" as defined by the industry.
Group III, severely hydroprocessed distillate.
Group III+ subgroup is Shell XHVI base oils made from isomerized wax or "slack wax"
Group IV, Polyalphaolefin (PAO) made from refinery gasses like ethylene
Group V, esters made by treating alcohols with acids

ExxonMobil also makes Alkylated Napthelene which is Group III to me, but they claim a new Group VI for it.

Esters are the only "non petroleum" synthetics and cost a lot more. The original Castrol R was castor oil based and full of natural esters.

Jim

 

Barney... the purple dino...

 

oil is not the byproduct of dinosaurs. Its actually from plant life like swamps and forest that where buried in flash floods under alot of mud sealing it off from oxygen delaying it's decomposition. Over millions of years the layers compressed into oil. There may be some dinosaurs that where buried but not many.

 

When a base stock and an additive really love each other . . .

 

Sperm whales.