Motor oil production began at the end of the 19th century. The ancestor of this process is John Ellis, who worked on lubricants for the car engine. Today, various additives for the production of motor oils have expanded the range so much that it will not work out quickly. So how is this raw material produced and what is its value?
Raw materials
The production of motor oil, like any other, can not do without raw materials - the substance from which the final product is obtained. Mineral oil is made from oil. But before she gets to the lubricants plant, she needs to go through a series of refineries at the refineries. First of all, the lightest benzene compounds are evaporated from oil - this is alcohol, kerosene, gasoline of various octane numbers. And when oil after numerous treatments turns into fuel oil, it gets to the oil production line.
It would seem that fuel oil is so thick that it is the final product of oil refining, however, after vacuum cleaning, it is split into mineral oil and tar. This is just the tar that is the remainder of the crude oil refining. But he does not disappear, but goes to the production of asphalt throughout the country. Thus, the production of motor oils in Russia indirectly helps to develop the construction of roads.
First stage of production
At the first stage of the production of motor oil, a process of hydroconference with the participation of hydrogen occurs. Particles of this gas purify the base raw material from nitrogen impurities and sulfur compounds. The oil obtained in this way belongs to the 2nd group. This distinguishes Russian-made motor oil from other products, because not all companies use hydroconference in production. By the way, during this process, the oil acquires its color, transparency and specific smell.
Second stage of production
The production of motor oil in the second stage includes the addition of appropriate additives to the product. Since the requirements for it are different, in accordance with the arrangement of car engines, as well as their operating conditions, there are many varieties. For example, in the summer it is recommended to use oil of a higher viscosity, and in the winter, respectively, with a lower one. For diesel engines, one type of engine oil is required, for gasoline - another, and for gas-powered cars - a third.
All these varieties can be obtained by adding appropriate additives to the base raw materials. Each additive requires its own dissolution temperature. 0 degrees is enough for some, 100 for others, and still others dissolve only at 120 or even 150 degrees. But at the same time, many additives are destroyed at extremely high temperatures. That is, while an additive requiring 120 degrees is dissolved, the other may begin to dissolve already at 100 degrees. This circumstance forces manufacturers to add additives one at a time, alternately heating or cooling oil.
Compounding devices
Modern motor oil factories use various compounding devices, that is, mixing base materials with additives, because conventional heating is not enough for this.
Oil is mixed in special tanks. It uses either a slow mixer, or a fast fan, or air supplied under pressure.
Each method has its own disadvantages and advantages used for the production of one type or another. For example, if a component that is easily split by air, up to spontaneous combustion, is included in the oil, then, of course, a fan mixing method is used.
It also matters what viscosity the resulting oil has, the speed of mixing depends on this.
Additive components are added with special dispensers to avoid proportions. In modern engine oil production, compounding plants are fully automatic. Factories buy them from well-known manufacturers, such as, for example, SiemensandHalske. Or make them yourself.
Types of Additives
For each type of oil, one or another set of additives is used. They can be not 2 and not 3, but much more. The characteristics of the oil and its quality depend on the quantity.
For example, a standard mineral oil may include: H-paraffin, cycloparaffins, polycondensed naphthenes, monoaromatic and polyaromatic compounds, isoparaffin.
Branched chain isoparaffin is included in the high-quality product. And this is not a complete list of ingredients, because many of them are the trade secret of the manufacturer. In this sense, the technology for the production of motor oil is akin to, for example, the production of Coca-Cola - its composition is also known to units of specialists and is carefully guarded.
The quality of modern products
The process of engine oil production has become so technologically advanced that the resulting product is an order of magnitude better than what was used in automobiles 10 or 20 years ago.
Modern oil has high oxidative stability, which makes it more durable. And if earlier oil had to be changed every 3-5 thousand kilometers, now it can withstand 7 and 10 thousand.
Another innovation - the oil began to withstand higher temperatures. This leads to the fact that carbon deposits and pollution are not formed in the engine. Viscosity has become stable, independent of ambient temperature and engine. This protects the moving parts of the engine longer and affects fuel economy.
Modern oil freezes only at extremely low temperatures. Therefore, the engine, which is filled with a quality product, easily starts even in the most severe weather conditions.
Motor oil production in Russia
Motor oil produced in the Russian Federation is not inferior in its characteristics to its counterparts in other countries. Moreover, it is much cheaper. This happens for many reasons. Firstly, the raw materials for production are mined by Rosneft throughout Russia and provided to the plants at low prices. Specialists for refineries are being trained in Russia, for example, graduates of Samara State University are working at the Novokuybyshevsk refinery.
Not far from the aforementioned plant is the Middle Volga Research Institute for Oil Refining, that is, the production process is constantly improved by the specialists of this institution.
As a result, Rosneft automobile oil is recommended for the products of AvtoVAZ and Volzhsky Automobile Plant. This oil is capable of not losing its properties over a 15,000 run. Moreover, its price is much lower than foreign analogues. After all, the entire production process takes place at one plant, which means there are no additional margins. Even plastic bottles for packing finished oil are produced at the same factory, and are not bought from another company.
Used oil and ecology
With used engine oil, the situation in Russia is not very good. Today, only 15% of the used oil goes to processing, the rest is poured into the soil. This is unacceptable for the life of the entire biosphere of the planet. Used oil, getting into the soil, penetrates into groundwater and goes into rivers and lakes. Sooner or later, his presence will have a fatal effect on people who drink such water. Understanding this, for example, in Germany, they process almost 55% of all used oil.
And if in everyday life you can use a small amount of used oil, for example, to lubricate a bicycle or a chainsaw, then in large industries it is used in hydraulic systems, agricultural machinery transmissions, for processing wooden sleepers and conservation of equipment in the army. That is, there are many uses, but it often turns out that recycling is more expensive than a new product. Hence the unwillingness to reuse raw materials. A man, thinking about his enrichment, often forgets about everything else.
Conclusion
If the user has accumulated too much waste oil, it can be returned to collection points for just such oil, open throughout the country. From there, it goes to plants where, after processing and cleaning, fuel can be made from it, or it finds other uses.
For information, the methods of physical and chemical purification of used oil are carried out by the same research institutes that were engaged in its production. So for them in this problem there are no unsolvable questions.