Mobil 1 from dino??

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On the UK link "million mile BMW" in an earlier thread, there are other links showing how M-1 is made. Interestingly enough, on the flow chart starting from Left (start) to Right (final product) it shows that the origins of M-1 is "Crude Oil". So what makes it different from what Castrol is selling as synthetic?
 
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Originally posted by Dr. T:
On the UK link "million mile BMW" in an earlier thread, there are other links showing how M-1 is made. Interestingly enough, on the flow chart starting from Left (start) to Right (final product) it shows that the origins of M-1 is "Crude Oil". So what makes it different from what Castrol is selling as synthetic?

The feedstock for PAO is ethylene gas, which is indeed a product of distilling crude oil. Those gas molecules are polymerized into an oil. This "polymerization" (building larger molecules from small ones) is what the chemists see as the sine qua non of "synthetic" oil. In other words, "If it ain't polymerized, it ain't synthetic." Castrol would say that if the finished base oil is chemically different enough from the feedstock, the oil is "synthetic." Hence by their definition, PAO is synthetic and so is a Group III because of all the cracking of molecules and the catalytic conversion of the wax that takes place in producing it.
 
Mobil 1 contains synthesized hydrocarbons (PAO's). Synthesized hydrocarbons are PAO's, EOP's, and polyisobutylenes, so many synthesized hydrocarbons are made from petroleum feedstocks.

Mobil 1 also contains Esters, which are made from small molecules of alcohols and acids, reacted to form larger molecules of esters. Both PAO's and esters, with appropriate additives, comprize the sum total of Mobil 1.

[ January 01, 2003, 12:07 PM: Message edited by: MolaKule ]
 
The last two posts were both understandable and informative.
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