Mysterious base oil - alkyl naphthalene ANs

Lubricant requirements have increased over the years, driving formulators to move from Group I base stocks to Group II, Group III, GTL base stocks and even higher-grade Group IV oils, such as the latest metallocene polyalphaolefin PAOs. However, these high-end base oils have low polarity and poor solubility with additives. Therefore, many formulation engineers improve this performance by using five-group base oils such as ester oils. In fact, alkyl naphthalene ANs are another good solution.

Alkylated naphthalene ANs have been commercialized for over two decades and have recently been mentioned more and more in various industry references, but have always remained a niche product.