What are the differences between synthetic and mineral oils?
Mineral oils are extracted from crude oil as part of the refining process. Many products such as engine oils, gear oils, hydraulic oils etc. use these mineral oils along with specially designed performance enhancing additives as part of their formulation. However, due to limitations in the refining extraction process some impurities remain in the mineral oils that negatively impact on their performance. Synthetic oils or fluids, on the other hand, are produced chemically from small pure hydrocarbon molecules. They outperform mineral oils in a number of areas including high temperature performance and also low temperature capability due to their very low Pour Points. They are more expensive to produce and products containing synthetic fluids are normally targeted at the high performance or more severe applications. Products exist which are a combination of mineral oils and synthetic fluids.
Mineral oils are extracted from crude oil as part of the refining process. Many products such as engine oils, gear oils, hydraulic oils etc. use these mineral oils along with specially designed performance enhancing additives as part of their formulation. However, due to limitations in the refining extraction process some impurities remain in the mineral oils that negatively impact on their performance. Synthetic oils or fluids, on the other hand, are produced chemically from small pure hydrocarbon molecules. They outperform mineral oils in a number of areas including high temperature performance and also low temperature capability due to their very low Pour Points. They are more expensive to produce and products containing synthetic fluids are normally targeted at the high performance or more severe applications. Products exist which are a combination of mineral oils and synthetic fluids. These generally give performance characteristics between the two fluids and go by names such as s
