Hello,
Can the synthetic oil be distinguished from its smell,and or colour from mineral oils?

Synthetic oils are frequently made from higly refined petroleum base stocks (VHVI and XHVI hydrocracked oils). So, the fully synthetic or 100% synthetic oils are very rare. In fact, most of the synthetic oils are petroleum based (mineral) oils. Therefore, you cannot distinguish any difference between them by evaluating smell or colour.

Maybe it is just the branding or additive package but, I find that I can tell the difference between the scent of the various oils i use in my plant. I would not go as far as saying I could tell the difference from unknown sources.

quote:

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Originally posted by Frixos:
Hello,
Can the synthetic oil be distinguished from its smell,and or colour from mineral oils?

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Color:
Hardly there will be any difference between Syntheic and mineral based. There can be difference due refining techniques adopted in each case, but , certainly not based on synthetic and mineral. Now, Group III base oils can also be called as syntheic base.

Smell:

Again, in this case also hardley you can find any difference. Some ester base oils can give pleasant smell but again masked by chemical additives.

Kumar

kumartr2@yahoo.com

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kumar,

quote:

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Originally posted by Frixos:
Hello,
Can the synthetic oil be distinguished from its smell,and or colour from mineral oils?

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Agree with the comments above...as long as the base stock of the "synthetic" is a group 3 or the real synthetic Group 4 then the finished product will smell pretty close to a similar product made with a group 1 or 2 base stock. When you get into some of the group 5 base stocks then in some cases you can tell the difference. Again as mentioned above most of the lubricants used are of the group 1-4 base stocks.
As BuckHntr mentioned it is fairly easy to note the differences between say a hydraulic oil and gear oil, when you are dealing with them day in and out. In my plant I could tell you with some certainty what they were, but if you brought in some product I could probably tell you it was an R&O or a gear oil but that is as far as it goes.
Mabey we could get a comment from one or more of the basestock blenders that view these comments. Do the basestocks have a particular distinguishable odor ??


regards.....