Originally Posted By: Doug Hillary
Hi,
flanso - Along with the excellent Group descriptions provided above by NHSilverado there is another Group:
Group 6 - Polyinternalolefins
This Group was enabled about 2005 and includes a number of very advanced "lubricants" - by definition
Never heard of Group VI( probably because it is used in Europe primarily - exclusively? ). Thanks for the info. Best info I could find on it is this...
Group VI oils. These are polyinternalolefins (PIO) somewhat similar to PAOs. These oils are not readily available at present anywhere outside of Italy.
Europeans Adopt 6th Base Oil Group
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
By Tim Sullivan
The Technical Association of the European Lubricants Industry -- ATIEL -- this summer adopted a definition for a sixth group of lubricating base stocks: polyinternalolefins. The initiative was driven by South African energy company Sasol, which produces PIOs and states that they offer performance similar to polyalphaolefins.
“In terms of chemical composition, they’re not very different from PAOs,” said Massimo Ciali, global market manager of lubricants for Sasol’s Olefins and Surfactants division. “And they act very similarly in lubricants.” Ciali noted that the definition adopted by the association included base oil interchange guidelines. Sasol hopes the definition and guidelines make it easier for lube formulators to substitute PIOs for PAOs. The guidelines allow interchange of PIOs with each other and with PAOs without the need for additional engine tests.
ATIEL maintains definitions of base stock categories which, except for the new Group VI category, are identical to those maintained by the American Petroleum Institute for North America. Groups I, II and III represent mineral based oils with increasingly stringent limits for aromatics, viscosity index and sulfur content. Group IV is for PAOs, while Group V is a catchall for any base stocks that do not fall into the other categories.
PIOs are similar to PAOs in that they are synthetic linear chains of alphaolefins. Ciali said Sasol convinced ATIEL that it made sense to define a new category in order to reduce the amount of testing required of formulators trying to license motor oils that contain PIOs.