SECTOR FOCUS: BASE OILS


Future applications for Group II and Group III base oils


Three ways are used to make Group II, II+, III and III+ base oils. The first two start with processing crude oil in an oil refinery. A typical process flowsheet is shown in Figure 1. Base oil production starts with the vacuum gas oils (VGOs) and vacuum residue from the vacuum distillation column.


R D Whitby, Chief Executive, Pathmaster Marketing Ltd.


In order to understand how and why American Petroleum Institute (API) Group II and Group III base oils are currently being used and could be used in the future, it is necessary to know how they are made, their performance properties and their historical, current and possible future prices, compared with API Group I base oils.


Figure 2: Hydrocracking Process Flowsheet


Figure 1: Oil Refinery Process Flowsheet.


The VGOs can be fed to either the base oil production units, the catalytic cracker or the hydrocracker. These latter two units are used to make some of the components that are blended to make gasoline and diesel fuels. It is important to note that the residues from the hydrocracker can also be fed to the base oil units. The process for using a fuels hydrocracker to make base oils is shown in Figure 2. A separate process using hydrocracking to make base oils is shown in Figure 3. ExxonMobil, Shell and other oil companies have similar processes to the Chevron Isodewaxing process.


14 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.169 JUNE 2022


Figure 3: Chevron Isodewaxing Process Flowsheet


A third route to making Group II and Group III base oils uses natural gas as the starting feedstock, as shown in Figure 4. Sasol and ExxonMobil have developed similar processes to the Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis process. These processes are used primarily to make low sulphur gasoline and diesel fuels. The additional products include Group II+ and Group III+ base oils and synthetic waxes.


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