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The Development of
Synthesized Motor Oils
A Historical Review by Ed Newman
Marketing & Advertising Coordinator, AMSOIL INC.
AS THE YEAR 2000 APPROACHES, it is both a time of looking
forward, and of looking back. No one a century ago could have foreseen the
rapid transformations that science and invention would bring to our world.
From rocket ships to microwaves, silicon chips to Dolly the cloned ewe --
it has been an astonishing period of history. I mean, a hundred years ago
we didn't even have gas stations. Or highways. Or flat tires.
One of the transforming developments of our century has been
the discovery of the process of organic synthesis, the combining of the
raw materials of production into a nearly limitless array of plastics,
films, fabrics and fluids. By understanding the geometry of organic
compounds, chemists could create customized molecular designs to achieve
preconceived objectives. Scientists realized that they could actually
improve the characteristics of items found in nature.
One bi-product of this process has been the development of
synthetic motor oil. It is believed that the first synthesized
hydrocarbons were created by Friedel & Crafts in 1877 using Aluminum
TriChrloride as the catalyst. Yet it wasn't until 1929 that the commercial
development of synthesized hydrocarbons was undertaken by Standard Oil of
Indiana. Not surprisingly there was a lack of demand for the new product
and this first marketplace introduction of synthetic lubricants was
commercially unsuccessful. (There is probably no relationship between this
event and collapse of stock market later that year.)
Eight years later the first PAO, a synthetic product using
olefin polymerization, was manufactured. 1937 was also year that the
Zurich Aviation Congress became interested in ester based lubricant
technology. From 1938 to 1944 thousands of esters were evaluated in
Germany with excellent results. In our own country ester basestocks were
also being developed by the United States Naval Research Laboratory and
introduced into military aviation applications during the 1940's.
During this period scientists were well funded, and the new
processes of synthetic creation had some great success. But as is so often
the case, the existence of a "better mousetrap" does not always result in
its commercial survival.
It was the space age that helped create a greater
appreciation for the benefits of synthetic lubricants. Jet engines raised
the bar on what was required of a lubricant. The high speed, high heat and
cold temperature performance requirements of modern jets created a demand
for a new kind of lubricant.
Just after the war we saw the first use of diesters by the
British in turboprop engines for high temperature performance. And from
the late forties to the early seventies various synthetic fluids were
developed to meet the demands of new and more efficient high performance
engines and machines.
Because of the self-evident cold weather benefits of
synthetic jet engine oil, it would not have been difficult to find a few
maverick pilots experimenting with this oil in their cars. The military
paid thirty-five dollars a quart for synthetic oil in those days and even
the used jet engine oil seemed clean enough for some pilots in Alaska and
elsewhere to mix with their motor oil to assist cold winter starts.
One such experimenter took a more systematic approach. In
the mid-1960's, Lt. Col. Albert J. Amatuzio, jet fighter squadron
commander at a northern Minnesota airbase, likewise had become familiar
with these "extra ordinary" lubricants that protected the engines of the
jets he flew. He began a research project that eventually became his life
work and second career. At first, Amatuzio's efforts were aimed at
improving the performance of petroleum oil.
Eventually, Amatuzio realized the need to begin with a
synthetic basetock and build his ideal lubricant from the ground up. His
search led him to Monsanto, Drew Chemical Corporation and Hatco. It was
Drew Chemical Corporation in Boonton, New Jersey, where the first polyol
esters had been developed and patented in conjunction with Mobil Chemical
in 1958. Mobil Oil's Jet Engine Oil II was based on the fluids produced at
Drew Chemical. The truth is, automobiles put even more stress on a
lubricant than jet engines because air aspirated car engines must deal
with dirt and the messy by-products of combustion. The problem was how to
bring the expanded temperature range performance, wear protection and
service life of a synthetic into an automotive setting. Amatuzio believed
he had found a way. According to Jack Arotta, a Duluth Minnesota
businessman today, "I was the first guy to put it (a specially formulated
100% synthetic motor oil) in a brand new car, a 1966 Ford Station Wagon.
Al was my squadron commander up at the air base, so I always use the joke
that since Al was my squadron commander, how could I not put it in when he
told me to?"
Actually, for more than a year Jack had been putting a
variety of Al's synthetic formulations in his previous cars, so he did not
feel that he was putting his vehicle at serious risk. After several more
years of fine tuning his formulation, AMZOIL (Amatuzio-oil) was created
and became the first 100% synthetic diester based engine oil to pass the
API sequence tests and receive API qualification in 1972.
The following year Mobil Oil began marketing the first PAO
based engine oil overseas and in 1975 they began test marketing a
synthetic PAO based synthetic in the U.S. called Mobil 1.
Over time a growing niche of consumers became aware of the
performance benefits synthetic offered. As additional products were
developed, from synthetic diesel oil to two cycle oils, synthetic
transmission fluids and gear lubes, so grew the interest. With growing
market opportunity, more companies made contributions in the development
of basestock fluids and new technologies, including the Gulf Oil Company
(since acquired by Chevron), Chevron Corporation, Amoco, Ethyl
Corporation, Exxon, Henkel, Castrol, Uniroyal, Lubrizol, Neste Chemical,
and Texaco (additive technology and synfluids since acquired by Ethyl).
By the mid-nineties nearly every oil company carried a high
end synthetic motor oil in its product line, though only a few companies
seem truly dedicated to promoting them. Nevertheless, synthetic lubricants
are currently the fastest growing segment of the oil industry and they are
definitely here for the long haul.
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