ENGINEERING BULLETIN
FILTERS AND CENTRIFUGES
Nigel McKenzie
The filtration of oil within an engine is an essential part of the operation of an engine and thus all engines have some form of oil filtration process that is designed to eliminate particulate contamination from the oil and thus avoid the build-up of an abrasive condition within the engine. Recently a number of car companies have introduced oil filters that will filter down to 1.8 microns. Additionally in larger industrial settings it is common for the oil to be circulated via a centrifuge in order to remove particulate contamination. Thus the question has been asked whether either of these levels of filtration will X-1R be removed or separated from the oil.
IMPACT OF X-1R ON EURO 5/6 DIESEL PARTICULATE FILTERS (DPF’S)
- Nigel McKenzie
Governments around the world have recognized the health threatening and harmful effect of diesel powered vehicles exhaust fumes and as a result have mandated the use of fuels with ever lower polluting properties, you may know this as Euro 5 or even Euro 6. The battle goes as far as the engine oil where and as you may already know, LOW ASH or LOW SAPS engine oil is designed to prevent certain oxides reaching Diesel Particulate Filter or DPF (which handles particulate matter/soot). (SAPS stands for Sulfated Ash, Phosphorous and Sulphur).
ORGANIC MOLYBDENUM COMPOUNDS (OMC)
- Nigel McKenzie
Within the South East Asian region we are constantly in competition with products that have as their main active ingredient some form of Organic Molybdenum Compound also known as OMC or AOMC, and thus I am being asked a number of questions about this type of additive. Manufacturers of Organic molybdenum claim it to be a second or third generation additive as it is an oil soluble moly compound and not a solid film lubricant, however the solubility claim is open for debate.
REDUCTION OF SLUDGE BUILD-UP WITH THE USE OF X-1R ENGINE TREATMENT
- Nigel McKenzie
Most manufacturers have now introduced high compression short stroke engines in their bid to reduce fuel consumption in their cars. These engines have the ability to give a much higher power output than was previously possible for smaller capacity engines with the recent 1100cc Ford engine used in the Mondeo capable of outperforming the previous 2000cc engine in the same car. Coupled with the use of these engines there has been a marked increase in the service interval with most manufacturers opting for a 10,000 to 12,000 kilometre average between oil changes.
TECHNICAL BULLETIN MOTOR OIL SLUDGE
- Nigel McKenzie
Manufacturing modern engine oil is a precision operation. From the time that the crude oil goes into processing, until the finished lubricating oil is stored, careful control of temperatures, pressures and process time is exercised. Elaborate equipment takes undesirable components from the oil. Small, precise amounts of desired compounds are added at certain stages. Throughout the entire operation, extreme care is taken to keep contamination out of the product. Painstaking work is required to produce oils that will give first rate lubrication to engines of all types, under all conditions of operation and service.
X-1R DIESEL SYSTEM CLEANER, THE WHY QUESTION ANSWERED
- Nigel McKenzie
In various countries around the world there has been a slow but steady move from Diesel to low sulphur diesel (Sulphur @ 500ppm) and now to ultra-low sulphur diesel (Sulphur @ 50ppm), this has created a lot of problems and rumours in the market place, specifically, the fear that ULSD has a lower lubricity and cetane rating, which could affect pre-2007 diesel engines and fuel systems. The Sulphur in the Diesel acts as a lubricant and does not burn, instead it enters the atmosphere as Sulphur Dioxide and ends up as acid rain.
JUST WHAT DO THOSE LETTER MEAN
- Nigel McKenzie
Recently I was in the process of buying a new car, the performance figures for the car that I was interested in were quoted as 150PS. Being a bit old school I was wondering what this meant and how it related to HP or BHP or kW or WHP. This got me thinking, just what do these initials mean and from where do they come.
HOW AN OCTANE BOOSTER ACTUALLY WORKS
- Nigel McKenzie
Here’s how the octane thing works. In normal combustion in an engine with high octane gasoline the flame is initiated at the sparkplug, and the flame-front spreads evenly across the combustion chamber burning up the air-fuel mixture. As the flame-front spreads, the air-fuel mixture ahead of it gets much hotter for two reasons. First it’s heated by the radiant heat from the flame-front (like standing in front of a fire), and second, its pressure is rising and that produces heat (like the end of a bicycle pump getting hot when you pump up a tire – or the reverse of the cold feeling when you let the air out of a tire).
THE TIMKEN TEST
- Nigel McKenzie
Recently I have been asked about the “pressure machine” that is used at trade shows and on various infomercials (including some of ours). The machine is called the Timken Test Machine and is used to determine the “Measurement of Extreme-Pressure Properties of Lubricating Fluids” Timken stopped manufacturing these machines and most are now made by the FALEX corporation and thus they are sometimes called a Falex Machines or the Falex Test.
SULPHUR IN IFO
- Nigel McKenzie
Harold, In response to the tech question regarding sulphur in IFO, please enjoy the following response. In regards to your question – what happens to the sulfur? When high sulfur heavy fuel oil is combusted either in an engine or a furnace without additives present, the sulfur ends up as a mixture of sulfur oxides. These oxides are sulfur dioxide (SO2) and sulfur trioxide (SO3), the ratio of the two being largely dependent on how much vanadium is present in the heavy oil. SO2 is considered an undesirable pollutant in that when released into the atmosphere it can ultimately produce acid rain, but it’s not particularly harmful to the engine or furnace.
