Chevron and ISO SYN

[Winston]

In the past it seemed that only the 5W20 and 5W30 Chevron Supreme oils were made with their Iso Syn base stock. I was just at Kragen and saw a Bottle of 10W30 with ISO SYN on the front and another 10W30 bottle right next to it that did not say ISO SYN. I looked at the date codes and saw that the "non-isosyn" bottle was from Oct '05 and the "isosyn" bottle was from Jan '06. Looks like they changed their formula!

 

[m2200b]

Some of the east coast brew and some of the post Katrina brew didn't use the same hydrocracked
(iso) base stock. Now that its hydrocrackers are getting up to capacity I see ISO on the same oil as before and ISO on 10-30 and even delo 15-40.

 

[prspect06]

Is hydrocracking hydrogenating the carbon bonds to make aliphatic linear carbon bonds thereby reducing the base stock to single bonds?

 

[Ray H]

You get the prize for today's most intelligent question, prspect06 - that's a BIG part of it. Hydrocracking also converts waxy side chains to linear paraffins, as well as ripping sulfur and nitrogen out of organics that are also isomerized to linear paraffins. The nitrogen can be recovered from the hydrogen "atmosphere" and the elemental sulfur from the bottom of the hydrocracking vessel at the end of the run - both to be processed and purified for commercial/industrial use. I don't know what amazes me more - that hydrocracking is still so poorly understood in its ramifications or that many still believe that "paraffin" equates to "wax"...

 

[outrun]

ISO-SYN = GroupII+ Base Stock?

same as Pennzoil with PureBase?

 

[dave1251]

outrun you are correct both are the same

 

[Ray H]

This from Shell's website concerning waxes:

Branched chain paraffins: iso-paraffins

Non-Normal Hydrocarbons:

Hydrocarbons with molecules containing a chain of carbon atoms which is not entirely straight, but which may include one or more of the following features:

(a) Branched carbon chains (i.e. side-chains of carbon atoms attached to the main chain).

(b) Naphthene ring structures (i.e. cycloparaffinic rings; rings of saturated carbon atoms containing no double bonding).

(c) Aromatic ring structures.

Microcrystalline waxes contain a relatively high proportion of such molecules.

 

[prspect06]

By waxy side chains, you are talking about double, triple bonds, and rings?

quote:

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Originally posted by Ray H:
You get the prize for today's most intelligent question, prspect06 - that's a BIG part of it. Hydrocracking also converts waxy side chains to linear paraffins, as well as ripping sulfur and nitrogen out of organics that are also isomerized to linear paraffins. The nitrogen can be recovered from the hydrogen "atmosphere" and the elemental sulfur from the bottom of the hydrocracking vessel at the end of the run - both to be processed and purified for commercial/industrial use. I don't know what amazes me more - that hydrocracking is still so poorly understood in its ramifications or that many still believe that "paraffin" equates to "wax"...

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