Friday, December 14, 2018

Useful Information Regarding Fuel Additives

By Betty Myers


Oil additives refer to chemical compounds that are added into base oils for the purposes of improving the performance of the lubricant. The base oil is also referred to using the term base stock. There are several different manufacturers of these products. In most cases, manufacturers use the same base stock, but vary the additives that they add into them based on the specific application the product is meant to be used for. Here are facts regarding Fuel additives.

As such, manufacturers normally vary the formulation of the additives which they add to their oils so as to produce a wide range of products for various uses. Normally, 5 percent of the total weight of some oils is as a result of the added additives. All oils regardless if they are petroleum or synthetic have specific additives of some sort.

The current internal combustion engines require oils that are laced with stabilizers. The oils are essential as besides providing lubrication they also prolong the lifespan of engines. If the additives were missing in the oils engines would experience many problems including leaking out, getting contaminated, and breakdowns. To add on this, they would not be able to provide proper protection to engines at all at temperatures that they operate at.

These oils do not only find use in engines, but also in gearboxes, bearings, clutches, and automatic transmissions. There are several different types of additives and they all perform different functions. For instance, there are additive products that are meant to provide lubricity, viscosity, and seal conditioning. Others are meant to control contaminants and control chemical breakdown.

There are a number of additives that are included so that lubricants can perform better in extreme conditions. Some of these conditions include increased contamination levels, severe temperatures, and severe pressures. For this reason, individuals need to know the purpose of specific oil type prior to purchasing it. Serious problems may happen in the engine or in any other component being lubricated should the wrong oil type be utilized for the wrong reason.

The invention of stabilizers that control chemical breakdown happened back in the 1930s. They serve the purpose of cleaning and neutralizing impurities in engines. If oils lack these products then the impurities would cause oil sludge to be deposed on important parts of the engine. Magnesium sulfonates are examples of such stabilizers. The oxidation of metal components of the engine is inhibited by another group of additive products.

Another group of additive products are antioxidants. These ones work by retarding the rdegradation of oil stock through oxidation. Some major examples are organic phenols and amines. Metal deactivators are also an important group of additive products whose function is to prevent the oxidation of oils. They achieve this by forming a film on metallic surfaces. This films prevents the metal from oxidizing the oils.

Other important additives are bases. These kinds of additives are meant for preventing chemical decomposition of base oils when exposed to acidic conditions. As such, they help with reducing the total acid number in oils. Several different types of bases of this kind which can be used for this purpose exist and better technology is enabling invention of even better ones.




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