I have a gallon container of Polaris 2 cycle injector oil that sais it is 100% synthetic. On the bottle it has a Contains Petroleum Distillates. Is this a contradiction or am I missing something here?

David

PAOs are made from Petroleum stock, plus group3 petroleum products can be labeled synthetic.

PAO's are Group IV

Ethelyne Gas (this would be the only petroleum dirivative) with Nickle added and then whatever the sythethesis process is; I'm not even going to try to portray myself as a Chemist because I'm not but this is all the info I can get from the Tech. guys at Amsoil Inc. They are obviously guarding their research and technology very closely.

'Rider Support'
(C.)918-636-1281

PAOs are specially designed chemicals that are uniquely made from alpha olefins. These stable molecules are produced by:

Steam cracking hydrocarbons to produce ultra high-purity ethylene
Ethylene oligomerization to develop 1-decene and 1-dodecene
Decene or dodecene oligomerization to form a mixture of dimers, trimers, tetramers and higher oligomers

Aren't alpha olephins synthetic base-stocks or are they petroleum base-stocks ? I appreciate the explanation you gave above but honestly, it means nothing to me. Like I said, I'm not a chemist so all the terms you gave sound cool but have no real value to me. Thanks.

'Rider Support'
(C.)918-636-1281

Steam cracking hydrocarbons produce ultra high-purity ethylene from which Poly Alpha Olefins are made from. Short and sweet, and I'm not a Chemical Engineer either, all though years ago I was Flight Engineer.

So why would Polaris's Synthetic 2 Cycle Injector Oil read contains petroleum distillates and Artic Cat's brand fluid not bare the same message on its label? Who requires that the term "Contains Petroleum Distillates" be put on the lable in the first place? EPA? and, are their paramaters like as to what percentage of the product contains petroleum? Confusing. Also, getting data sheets on these products is impossible. They will give you MSDS sheets but no data sheets. But thats another issue. Thanks.

David,
If you can to receive the MSDS it is good. Usually second section of MSDS that named “Information on Ingredients” contains information on components for example such as:
· Base oil, paraffinic > 80.0 %
· Additives < 20.0 %, including Zinc Alkyl Dithiophosphate < 2.00 %
Hope it can help to you.

Mikhail

Let me make this clear, synthetic oils are made from hydrocarbons, the same stuff dino oil is made from. Synthetic oils are petroleum products. They are the best products but they don't come from some magic lab somewhere. If the manufacturers told everything on the MSDS then anyone could make their product. Calling synthetics petroleum distillates is a correct term. Do some web searching, you will find that carpet and Mobil 1 and those plastic bags at the grocery store have a lot in common.

Bob,
I see your point. Thanks for taking the time to explain. Now I'm curious as to who mandates this warning label and why some have it and some don't. Just a quirky curiosity.

Petroleum Distillates such as PAO's and vasoline are safe and present no hazards to humans, some are toxic and can be absorbed through the skin and damage the liver. I used to work with a solvent made of TCE and naptha, it works great but was hazardous to life. The company I worked for did away with it, but they never checked our liver functions, guess they didn't care.

Bob, you are correct about pAO's, but this blanket statement that all synthetics are petro-based is not correct. Esters are formed by the reaction of alcohols and acids. You could make it from corn.

Road Rage, Your'e right! Esters are made from fatty acids from lambs wool, animal fats and vegetable oils such as olive, corn, soy, etc.