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- May 27, 2002
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What about Shell's XHVI, which is a grp. III oil? I saw somewhere that it is superior to other grp. IIIs. Someone please fill me in a little on it. Thank you.
quote:Chevron's UCBOs (they call their Group III "Unconventional Base Oil") is not the same thing as XHVI. The isodewaxing process is similar, in that the same catalytic process is used to convert the wax molecules in the VGO to fully saturated oil molecules. The difference is that this is just a part of the process for UCBO, the dewaxing process. The main part is the hydrocracking of the VGO. XHVI (or any wax isomerate) is produced SOLELY by wax isomerization. As I said, the feedstock for XHVI is not oil at all, but is slack wax or waxy raffinate. So with UCBO, only a minute part of the feedstock (the residual wax) is isomerized, while with XHVI, the sum total of the feedstock (which is wax) is isomerized into oil.
Originally posted by Ken2: Sounds like Chevron's base oil: "The ISODEWAXING® catalyst reshapes wax molecules into high-quality base oil molecules rather than breaking them down into by-products as is done in conventional catalytic dewaxing. The result is a chemically pure, clear, high-VI, low-pour-point base oil with outstanding performance characteristics."