Engine oil is comprised of a base fluid enhanced with additives. We developed a novel bio-based additive pack for engine oils. It comprises neither Sulfur nor Phosphorus and enables application of palm olein as a base fluid for tropical countries. Such bio-oil enhances fuel economy of an engine up to 30% and radically extends longevity of the engine as wear rate can be 25-50 (!) times slower in comparison with the best synthetic engine oils. We work on similar bio-oils for countries with moderate climate too.

1. How To
Extend Vehicle Longevity
&
Enhance Fuel Economy
by Oleg Kulikov

2. RESUME
Engine oil is comprised of a base fluid
enhanced with additives. We developed a
novel bio-based additive pack for engine oils. It
comprises neither Sulfur nor Phosphorus and
enables application of palm olein as a base
fluid for tropical countries. Such bio-oil
enhances fuel economy of an engine up to
30% and radically extends longevity of the
engine as wear rate can be 25-50 (!) times
slower in comparison with the best synthetic
engine oils. We work on similar bio-oils for
countries with moderate climate too.

3. MARKETS
Lubricants are substances to control or reduce
friction as well as wear of metal parts rubbing
along each other in their relative motion.
● The global lubricants market is expected to reach
US$100 Billion by 2020.
● Based on application, transportation and
automotive segments are the largest.
● Geographically, Asia-Pacific area is the largest
local market with about 38% share of the global
one.

4. TRENDS
Major trends in global lubricants market include:
● Wider adoption of bio-lubricants to reduce
environmental pollution.
● Enhancing fuel economy in vehicles by
reduction of friction losses.
● Extending longevity of engines, vehicles, and
machine by reduction of wear and corrosion.

5. BIO-OIL VS. PETROLEUM & SYNTHETIC OILS
Bio-lubricants are produced from vegetable oils
and animal fats. Today they represent only about
3% of the global market of lubricants. However, in
comparison with petroleum & synthetic engine oils
the bio-oils reduce energy consumption, wear rate,
environment pollution, and maintenance cost.
High-oleic sunflower and canola oils blended
with stearin-rich oils and fats have a potential to be
used as a base fluid for engine oil in areas with
moderate climate while palm oil and palm olein is a
base fluid of choice for tropical countries.

7. COST OF WEAR & CORROSION IN U.S.A.
US$29.7 B PER YEAR (for year 2002)
The highest cost of wear is in transportation industry

8. STATUS QUO
Modern cars are DESIGNED to fail after about
10-12 years in operation. Meanwhile longevity of
vehicles is limited mostly by wearing down an
engine and powertrain of a car as other parts can
be designed to serve long or be replaced cheap.
Synovial joints of bones in mammals provide an
example of so low friction losses and wear that is at
least an order of magnitude superior to the best
bearings and lubricants known to modern
engineering. Can we learn from the Mother Nature
about lubrication, lubricants and wear protection?
Yes, we can!

9. ANTI-WEAR ADDITIVES TO ENGINE OIL
Modern engine oils comprise anti-wear additives such
as zinc-dithiophosphate (ZDP) and zinc dialkyl-dithio-
phosphate (ZDDP).

11. AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE
ENGINE OIL CLASSIFICATION
Apart of SAE viscosity grades like 10W-30, the API is
using classes like SL, SM, SN for gasoline engines
(Spark ignition) and like CJ-4, CK for diesel
(Compression ignition). Engine oils in fact are being
formulated closely enough for both engine types.

12. A WAY TO GO
A smart way to decide about a lubricant before its
use in an engine is to test it. One easy test that
anybody can do - is a wear test.
Any good motorist is aware that most of wear
occurs at start-up of an engine when it is yet cold
and not properly lubricated.
A cooling system of a car has a thermostat that
operates at of 82 to 89 deg Centigrade. Therefore
tests have to start at ambient temperatures with
heating of oil in time so that its stationary
temperature has to be below 100 deg Centigrade.

13. SELF-MADE WEAR TEST MACHINE
The wear test machine can be assembled from an old
electrical motor and metal profiles for less than 20 US$.
And yet it may help to save thousands US$ per vehicle.

14. COMPARATIVE TESTS OF ENGINE OILS
At first, we have tested fully formulated engine oils
for their ability of wear protection. We compared
sizes of worn spots. The smaller the worn spot - the
better wear protection was with the tested oil.
We tested lubricants under following conditions:
-light load - 34 Newton, duration of 60 min;
-moderate load - 70 N, duration of 1 min, 10 min,
and 100 min;
-heavy load - 240 N, duration of 2 min, 100 min.
Temperature of engine oil was increasing to 70 deg
Centigrade in 10 min while a stationary temperature
was about 80 deg Centigrade.

15. The PTT SN Engine oil with width of worn spots 0.66 and 1
mm surpasses the SM-, SL- and SF- engine oils in wear tests of
1 min and 10 min duration under moderate load.
MODERATE ( 70 NEWTON) LOAD

21. CONCLUSIONS ON COMMERCIAL ENGINE OILS
The API classification of engine oils in general
relates to a level of wear protection. That is the
synthetic engine oil of SN-class provides better
wear protection than engine oils of lower classes.
However, engine oils of the same API class but
produced by different companies may demonstrate
large deviations in performance. Therefore, wear
tests of any engine oil are necessary.
Also, wear tests together with measurements of
viscosity are necessary to monitor performances
of the engine oil in time and to change the oil when
its performances drop considerably.

22. ALTERNATIVE TO PETROLEUM OILS?
Vegetable oils with a proper additive pack to
enhance their performances have a good potential
to surpass petroleum & synthetic oils in stability to
oxidation, lubricity at cold start-up, fuel economy,
wear protection, and lower cost of manufacturing
while in difference to petroleum oils they are not
toxic to environment.
Even some neat vegetable oils as well as blends
thereof may demonstrate decent wear protection
and stability to oxidation to be used as engine oils.
Let us check and test the alternative lubricants.

24. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF
VEGETABLE OILS & ANIMAL FATS

25. WEAR TESTS. 2 MIN @ 240 N LOAD.
All tested bio-oils surpass even synthetic PTT SN-oil and protect from
seizure at heavy load. Width of worn spots are presented for comparison.

26. COMPARISON OF WEAR PROTECTION
@ LIGHT AND MODERATE LOADS

30. PALM OLEIN AS A LUBRICANT
Neat palm olein provides better or about similar
wear protection in comparison with fully formulated
engine oils. Meanwhile refined and bleached palm
olein is available in local grocery stores at retail
prices that are a fraction of the engine oil price.
Intrinsic Vitamin E is an antioxidant to palm olein.
From our experience we may conclude that if
palm olein with antioxidants is used as engine oil the
oil change intervals are close to recommended ones
for petroleum engine oils. Monitoring of viscosity and
wear protection of the engine oil are yet necessary.

31. DISCUSSION ON COMPARISON OF OILS
Humankind practiced vegetable oils and animal fats
for lubrication purposes for over 5 000 years. During
the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, rapeseed
oil worked very well as a lubricant for engines and
bearings while tallow fat was successfully used as a
lubricant in presence of hot steam. Only in the second
half of the 19th century when industrial production and
distillation of crude oil started so that cheap petroleum
oils became available for lubrication the more
expensive vegetable oils and animal fats have been
left by the wayside as lubricants due to economical
reasons.

32. DISCUSSION ON COMPARISON OF OILS
Nowadays, with soaring prices for crude oil as
well as due to great progress in agriculture some
vegetable oils, e.g. palm, soybean, sunflower and
canola oils are cheaper than fully formulated
engine oils. Growing environmental concern also
brings needed attention to biodegradable
vegetable oils as alternatives for petroleum oils.
Vegetable oils have higher lubricity, lower
volatility, higher flash point, higher shear stability,
higher viscosity index, higher load-carrying
capacity, and superior detergency and dispersancy
when compared to petroleum-based lubricants.

33. DISCUSSION ON COMPARISON OF OILS
Inherent shortcomings of bio-oils, i.e. poor
stability to oxidation and hydrolysis at heating as
well as low pour points, were greatly reduced
recently by genetic modification of the oil-seeds
and by additives of antioxidants such as Vitamin E
as well as by blending with pour point depressants
and some liquids having low pour points.
Another disadvantage of the vegetable oils as
lubricants is reduced lubricity at temperatures
above 100 deg Centigrade. However, it also can
be corrected with special additives.

34. OIL ADDITIVES
As we mentioned above, performances of
lubricants are enhanced with special additives.
Actually, petroleum & synthetic oils without special
additives do not protect an engine from wear.
We developed novel additive packs that are
adapted for vegetable oils but with some
modifications in their formulation they can be used
also with petroleum oils although with lower
efficiency.
Below we present results of wear tests of
petroleum and vegetable oils with our additives.

35. IMPACT OF ADDITIVES. 10 MIN @ 70 N LOAD
ENGINE OILS + 10W.% OK68A.
Palm Olein, Paraffin Oil and PTT SF Engine Oil with 10 weight
% of our additives OK68A surpass the fully formulated synthetic
PPT SN-Oil in wear protection under Moderate Load.

38. COMPARISON OF WEAR MECHANISMS
The tests above were made in a sequence of 70N
load for 10 min and then 240N load for 2 min. While
polishing wear was involved in tests with both of the
additive packs, we may see deposition of a layer of
‘varnish/lacquer’ around the worn spot in the right
picture. The deposition comprises metal debris and
it is healing surface caverns. The layer is hard
enough to stay against scratching by a fingernail but
can be removed by metal instruments. We believe
that the slick layer of varnish/lacquer may protect
from wear at cold start-up of an engine when the
cylinder liner is not yet lubricated.

41. COMPARISON OF WEAR MECHANISM
From pictures presented above we may see
different patterns of wear involved in tests with our
bio-lubricants and synthetic SN-oil. While bio-oils
produce a glossy surface finish as a result of
polishing wear with palm olein and additives, the
wear pattern with SN-oil manifests microscopically
irregular surface relief. In lubrication by petroleum
and synthetic oils if the worn surface gets a glossy
finish it is losing an ability to keep the lubricant. In
lubrication by palm olein with additives the worn
surface keeps the bio-oil and remains protected.

45. SURFACTANTS

48. COMPARISON OF FRICTION MECHANISMS
Vegetable oils are liquids with polar molecules
that have high affinity to metal surface. The affinity is
further higher if the oil comprises free fatty acids or
additives of surfactants. The surfactants in vegetable
oils may form planar bi-layer lamellar structures on
smooth metal surfaces. The bi-layer lamellar
structures would slip along each other under shear
stress. Therefore, friction coefficient is lower if
rubbing metal parts are lubricated by bio-oils than by
petroleum oils of the same viscosity. So, vegetable
oils in difference to petroleum oils manifest
NATURAL lubrication.

49. COMPARISON OF WEAR MECHANISMS
Also, due to osmotic repulsion between the bi-
layer lamellar structures the rubbing surfaces are
kept in separation from each other and wear can be
efficiently eliminated after a stage of the polishing
wear that is smoothing surfaces at the molecular
scale. As the polishing wear is progressing the
ability to stay higher and higher loads without any
direct contact between the interacting surfaces in
their relative motion is increasing while the rubbing
parts may glide along each other with almost no
friction losses.

50. IMPACT OF ADDITIVES CONCENTRATION ON
WEAR. PALM OLEIN + OK70B. 2 MIN @ 240N.

51. IMPACT OF ADDITIVES CONCENTRATION
While the best wear protection is achieved at
concentration of our additives about 10 weight % in
palm olein we believe that for engine oil 5 w.% of the
additives would be an optimal concentration. The
additives get depleted in time and therefore they can
be added to engine oil in portions with total amount
in a range of 5 to 10 w.%. It seems so that our bio-oil
is a one-time treatment of the engine as after a
conditioning stage of the polishing wear lower
concentrations of the additives or even neat palm
olein with antioxidants can be used as engine oil
without considerable reduction in fuel economy.

52. IMPACT OF ADDITIVES TO PALM OLEIN

53. IMPACT OF ADDITIVES TO BIO-OILS
All our additive packs comprise antioxidants but
different amounts of anti-wear additives and friction
modifiers. We believe that good protection at heavy
loads is of a primary importance and therefore for
palm olein as a base fluid the additive packs that are
close in composition to the OK71B are preferable.
However, different compositions of lubricants may
be developed for gear oils and other applications.
Additional research is necessary to develop
additive packs for lubricants to be used in moderate
climate conditions.

54. COMPARISON OF WEAR PROTECTION OF THE
BIO-OILS WITH SYNTHETIC OILS

55. COMPARISON OF WEAR PROTECTION OF THE
BIO-OILS WITH SYNTHETIC OILS
Refined palm olein with our additives can be used
as base fluid for engine oil in tropical countries.
Indeed, in wear tests bio-oils with our additives
surpass even synthetic engine SN-oil. With our
additive pack to palm olein the worn volume has
been reduced about 13 times for light loads in 60
min tests and about 4.8 times for moderate loads in
10 min tests in comparison to synthetic SN-oil.
As for the wear rate there is a tendency to drop in
time then we tested our bio-oils longer under
moderate and heavy loads. See the results below.

56. WORN VOLUME vs. TIME @ 70 N LOAD

57. WEAR RATE @ 70 N LOAD

59. WEAR @ 70 N LOAD
Palm olein with additive pack OK71B
demonstrates excellent wear protection. In the 100
min test under 70N load the worn volume is about
30 times smaller and established wear rate is about
50 times slower under effective pressure that is 10
times larger than that values for lubrication by
synthetic engine SM-oil.
We see that it takes about an hour to modify
surfaces and radically reduce wear rate if palm olein
with OK71B additive have been used. Meanwhile in
lubrication by neat palm oil there is only moderate
reduction in wear rate for the test duration.

60. WEAR @ 70 N LOAD
We believe that osmotic repulsion between
planar lamellar-like structures keeps interacting
surfaces apart while polishing wear increases areas
under the repulsion. Therefore load-carrying
capacity gets enlarged without direct contact
between the interacting surfaces.
Such smoothing/conditioning of the surface may
additionally be enhanced by deposition of a layer of
varnish that composted of polymerized oil-additive
filled with fine metal debris. The deposed layer of the
composite can withstand high temperatures and
protect top-end of the cylinder liner from wear.

61. WORN VOLUME vs. TIME @ 240 N LOAD

62. WEAR RATE vs. EFFECTIVE PRESSURE @ 240 N LOAD

64. WEAR @ 240 N LOAD
Under heavy load all commercial engine oils fail to
protect from seizure while both neat palm olein and
palm olein with the OK71B additive pack do well. In
the case of olein with additives the worn volume is
about twice smaller than for neat olein. Similar to the
test under 70 N load it takes about an hour to reduce
wear rate radically that is about 10 times for the olein
with our additives while for neat palm olein wear rate
drops only 2 times during the wear test 100 min.
Somehow effective pressure (related to osmotic
repulsion) for the olein with additives is about twice
larger than for the neat olein.

65. DISCUSSION
We observed that if palm olein with our additive
pack was used as engine oil for our pickup truck
ISUZU D-max fuel economy was improved up to 30
%, working temperatures of the engine were
diminished, vibrations of a diesel engine have been
reduced at its cold start, and the cold start itself got
easier. Especially it was obvious while starting a
diesel engine of our Kubota-125 tractor that has only
a manual kick-start. It starts so much easier for now
at colder mornings. The oil change in an engine of
our ISUZU D-max to neat palm olein was done after
one year in operation and 12,000 km distance.

66. DISCUSSION
After change of petroleum oil in a benzine engine
of our motor-scooter Yamaha Nouvo DI to palm
olein with our additive pack we measured up to 20 %
fuel economy improvement that is from 53 to 64-67
km per litre. For comparison, neat palm olein
enhanced the fuel economy only 4 % in comparison
with petroleum engine oil.
Also we used palm olein with 20 w.% of our
additive pack as gear oil for the Kubota tractor and
the Yamaha Nouvo DI motor-scooter.
In total we distributed for independent field tests
about 100 litres of palm olein with our additive pack.

67. DISCUSSION
Waste engine bio-oil was utilized to clean up from
dirt and lubricate chains of bicycles and motor
scooters Honda with excellent results.
While some of our additive packs are compatible
with petroleum oils the palm olein as a base fluid for
engine oil seems to be the best choice in tropics.
Refined palm olein is available in local grocery
stores for as low as 0.80 US$ / litre while prices for
the additive pack can be 10US$ / litre or lower at
mass production. So, estimated cost of the engine
bio-oil with 5 weight % of the additives is below 1.5
US$ per litre.

68. CONCLUSIONS
Wear rate with our bio-oils can be reduced 5-50
times in comparison with synthetic engine oils while
fuel economy may be enhanced up to 30%. Bio-oils
can also be used for lubrication of gears, chains,
and various bearings to reduce friction losses and
wear. Waste engine bio-oil can be utilized for total-
loss lubrication. If widely implemented our bio-oils
can radically reduce environmental pollution.
We may also conclude that the commercial
petroleum-based lubricants protect engine parts
from scuffing and seizure at high cost of intensive
wear and high friction losses in boundary conditions
of lubrication and during cold start of an engine.