(275d) Advances in Reaction Design and Engineering for the Production of High Performance Lubricants from Light Olefins

ExxonMobil has a rich history in lubrication science research dating back to the early 1960s, marking the start of the Corporate Strategic Research Laboratory. Since the early 1980s, the laboratory has sustained efforts in pursuing the knowledge and application of catalytic olefin oligomerization to produce high performance products most notably synthetic base stock, which is a major component in top tier lubricant products such as Mobil 1â„¢ and Mobil SHCâ„¢.

Our early research examples included oligomerization of linear alpha-olefins (LAO) to high viscosity index poly alpha-olefins (HVI-PAO), a class of synthetic base stock that provide lubrication advantages over the traditional acid-catalyzed product while bringing flexibility in both manufacturing process and raw material usage. In addition, this line of research significantly broadened our knowledge of base stock molecular structure-property relationships and the mechanistic understanding of catalytic chemistry.

Today, in light of the abundance of light olefins produced from various refinery and chemical processes, the effort in exploring novel olefin oligomerization chemistry continues for the purpose of high-grading low value olefins to useful products such as fuels, base stocks and chemical intermediates. We will review the chemistry and the lessons learned from our early work and in turn how history has shaped our recent focus and approach.