Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Two Dogs, Pirate on May 18, 2014 at 12:48

It just makes another use for natural gas. The larger the market for NG then the more pressure for price increases. Supply and demand drives the market.

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Permalink Reply by dbob on May 18, 2014 at 13:48

Interesting.  in terms of mineral owners, if its something that adds value after the point of custody transfer, they won't see direct payments.  But the overall demand may rise, bringing up the price paid.

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Permalink Reply by jim weyland on May 19, 2014 at 3:57

shell built a big time gtl, gas to liquids, plant in the middle east.

the project is called pearl and is in qatar

they also own both the pennzoil and quaker state motor oil brands.

i'm guessing pearl liquids are what's going into the pennzoil in question

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Permalink Reply by 1kw6x71km1v37 on May 19, 2014 at 4:22

Ever tear an engine down that has been run on Quaker State? I wouldn't wish that residue on my worst enemy.

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Permalink Reply by tc on May 19, 2014 at 4:40

That is because Quaker Steak & Lube wings sauce is not meant for your auto engine.

March 1974

Quaker Steak & Lube^® is Founded when Co-founders Gary "Moe" Meszaros and George "Jig" Warren bought a vacant automobile service station in Sharon, PA and converted it into a restaurant and bar appropriately named "Quaker Steak & Lube^®."

Today, “The Lube®” serves over 80 million wings annually, has bottled sauces for retail sale, has won the title of “Best Wings USA,” and has hundreds of local, national, and international awards for their sauce recipes. Over 60 locations throughout the United States and Canada, “The Lube®” is still rescuing muscle cars, vintage cars, trucks and a vast selection of custom and antique motorcycles, giving them good homes hanging from the walls and ceilings in each restaurant.

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Permalink Reply by Bradley McWilliams on May 25, 2014 at 3:26

Hey, if it's good enough for me, it's good enough for the Chrysler...

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Permalink Reply by Two Dogs, Pirate on May 19, 2014 at 4:40

Especially if it ran hot. Havoline is about the same thing.

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Permalink Reply by 1kw6x71km1v37 on May 19, 2014 at 6:08

Everything runs hot down here, two dogs. Most especially the women.

tc, I am thunderstruck. Did not know you could eat Quaker State. You will notice I said eat, not drink. It's that bad.

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Permalink Reply by lee on May 19, 2014 at 6:18

Here is a Youtube link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWO_S_SE-u4

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Permalink Reply by jim weyland on May 19, 2014 at 6:31

neat video.

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Permalink Reply by Dion Warr, CPL on May 19, 2014 at 12:45

Lee:

Looks like the idea is to use products of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis in order to "build" the base oil molecules from the smaller carbon chain products into high-purity large carbon chain molecules while limiting the formation of undesirable side-chain products. These processes have generally been cost-inefficient in the past and in most standard commodity pricing environments as it "costs" more energy to both synthesize as well as control the synthesis of liquids from smaller molecular weight materials (e.g., methane / steam) than to crack longer chain product mixtures (e.g., crude) into smaller components.

The first lubricants were more or less distilled and/or separated from undesirable products or products intended for different uses. The problem with this is lack of control of the proportions of desired products - crude samples from certain sources allow for splits heavier in pitch or asphaltics, or paraffinic waxes, while others yield more kerosene, or naphtha, gasoline or light distillates. Thus, a gasoline refiner was forced to look for source products more likely to yield desired products or contend with how to trade or dispose of heavier residues, for example.

Additionally, sour (sulfur-bearing) crudes or petroleum with higher concentrations of side chains, glycols or amines tended to undergo reactions at heat and pressure present within simple distillation - separation processes which sometimes quite literally gum up the works. Organic and physical chemistry was applied to these problems - processes were created and innovated to deal with elimination of undesirable side chains, coker units and fluid catalytic cracking was introduced to break longer organic residues into smaller more desirable components, and the modern refining process was born. Thus crudes of varying grades, gravity, and quality could be transformed by industrial process into a repeatable high-grade product by controlling flows of reactants and by products and monitoring the makeup of the resultant production streams.

But what happens if one doesn't have unfettered access to crude oil? WWII Germany had little native oil stocks, but access to gas, water and coal as a starter material and heat source. The Nazi scientists went to work reforming and building on organic processes originally discovered in the 20s to use what they had to fuel the war machine of the Third Reich on so-called ersatz fuels. Further advances on these processes were most notably advances by Sasol during the apartheid era as South Africa was starved of starting materials at that time.

So, the technology is there to synthesize base oils from smaller molecules. The kicker appears to be in the exclusion of undesirable residues from the product stream. Bulk refining processes through cracking, distillation, and separation yields a certain amount of undesirable components (contaminants) in some degree, as the free energy available in the system lends to the creation of a variety of exotic compounds, not all of which can be removed. Like seed crystals, these compounds seem to aggregate and foster formation of other components which eventually degrade the mixture. The idea seems to be that elimination of these components using a pure synthesis process (their process) is better controlled than by a cracking / destructive distillation process (the usual method). Does it work in reality? Well, we have seen that synthetic oils have found a niche with the public in providing for longer-lived engine components and higher product reliability with less susceptibility to thermal and autocatalytic breakdown - whether the price to be paid for GTL-sourced base oils is worth the freight is yet to be seen.

Cool video. Thanks for the trip down "what did I go to school for" memory lane...

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Permalink Reply by jim weyland on May 19, 2014 at 14:40

dion,

do you know/suspect how xom's 'mobil-one' synthetic base oil(s) may differ from rds's 'pure platinum pennzoil' base oil(s)? 

i sure don't.

jim

p.s. my guess is that any performance difference(s) between the two branded lube products will be found in/courtesy of each's proprietary 'pixie dust(s)'. 

p.p.s i've run mobil-1 for a long time, but i'd drop them like a bad habit, if i thought shell's product was superior, provided it was price competitive.

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