How are synthetic oils made? What chemicals do they start with and are the chemicals initially derived from petroleum oil in the first place? Just wondering.
A small contribution: Synthetic organic compounds are made by reacting simpler organic compounds. At the beginning, the cheapest simple organic compounds are produced by refining petroleum products, even though other routes may be available. So synthetic oil will almost certainly be produced from derivatives of petroleum.
As I understand it, synthetics are deriver from esters, which themselves are created through a reaction of alcohols and acids.
Thats as fas as my knowledge goes, though.
[B} Enola Straight’s** got half the puzzle. Esters are indeed made from various alcohols and acids, but esters are just one of the types of compounds used in synthetic lubricant manufacture.
The other primary one is polyalphaolefins. As far as I know, they’re polymerized (somehow) from ethylene gas, which is a pretty simple molecule. String a bunch of them together and you end up with something pretty uniform and with properties awful close to the ideal engine oil base stock.
According to paragraph [0077] of this patent,
This is a remarkably perceptive quesion, IMHO.
Actually quite a few chemicals used in making “petroleum substitutes” are derived from petroleum [You don’t see too much advertising today claiming that they are somehow replacements for petroleum, though that was cartainly the case inthe 70s/80s, and this clain is sometimes implied today]
It’s not all gimmickry, though. The fraction of crude oil that is suitable for direct or near-direct conversion to, say, motor oil is limited. There is virtue in ‘cracking’ heavier fractions to motor oils. Lighter fractions and byproduct gases are often “synthesized” into artifical oil. The distinction is a bit semantic, and is often really based on market structure: commercial ethylene is an independent product from oil, and is sold by the tank-car as an industrial precursor.
Many precursors are made from multiple feedstocks, Ethylene can have its origin in petroleum, natural gas, destructive distillation of wood or cellulose byproducts, and more. Hydrogen can be extracted from natural gass or made using electricity (sometimes hydroelectric, but often itself a petroleum byproduct, via power plants) Carbon monoxide can be made from coal, wood, or almost any carbon product.
Also, in the case of motor oil, the emphasis has shifted considerably away from “oil conservation” towards improved performance and endurance. Crude oil was cheaper in the 90s than it was just before the first “energy crisis” of the 1970s.
In the end, it all comes down to energy. If you have enough of that, you can chase your tail indefinitely and the supply markets can be very complex and inefficient. Its only when prices go up that efficency becomes preeminent over convenience, spot market availability, shipping costs, etc.
I suspect that if there were another oil embargo, the supply (and prices) of synthetic motor oil would be hit as hard as “regular” motor oil, especially given today’s demands. In a few years, the supply markets would readjust to make more efficient use of petroleum, and to employ other source feedstocks more.