Development of an HPLC method for monitoring lubricating oil ageing in PtX fuel operation

A significant reduction in GHG emissions is required to limit global warming. For the transport sector, in addition to more efficient engines, this essentially means the introduction of renewable fuels with high greenhouse gas reduction potential. PtX fuels, such as methanol and PtL diesel, are already being used today to achieve this goal. These also include carbon-free fuels such as ammonia. The lubricant industry is not only faced with the challenge of adapting conventional lubricants to the new fuels and their combustion processes, but also of developing and providing new sustainable products in order to achieve the "zero emission" target. In this context, not only is there little experience of the interactions of the various new fuels with the respective engine oil, but fundamentally different oil ageing mechanisms are also to be expected when using synthetic base oils. Conventional oil monitoring methods are suddenly no longer applicable, and limit values for oil changes must be redefined. For this reason, new methods of lubricating oil monitoring urgently need to be developed for these applications.

Alongside oxidation, nitration is one of the main factors influencing the ageing of engine oils and the cause of performance losses. The IR method currently used to determine the sum parameters nitration and oxidation is impaired by a number of influencing factors, including synthetic base oils. A new HPLC method to be developed in this project is intended to remedy this situation and provide detailed information on oil ageing / the incorporation of ageing-typical structural groups in any base oils.

The IGF application was submitted for evaluation.