EP1051467A1

EP1051467A1 - Marine lubricant for two-stroke engine

Info

Publication number: EP1051467A1
Application number: EP99901656A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jean-Philippe Roman
Original assignee: Elf Antar France
Current assignee: Total Marketing Services SA
Priority date: 1998-02-02
Filing date: 1999-01-29
Publication date: 2000-11-15
Anticipated expiration: 2019-01-29
Also published as: EP1051467B1; KR100655004B1; DK1051467T3; FR2774387B1; PT1051467E; CA2320332A1; ATE222943T1; FR2774387A1; DE69902631D1; US6528459B1; KR20010040538A; WO1999038940A1; DE69902631T2; JP2002501974A; ES2179614T3

Abstract

The invention concerns a lubricant for a two-stroke slow speed crosshead marine engine, powered with a fuel with sulfur content not less than 1%, consisting of a mixture of distillates used as lubricating bases containing x wt. % of dispersing additive of the succinimide type, y wt. % of an overbased detergent additive of the sulfonate type, and z wt. % of an overbased detergent additive of the phenate type. The invention is characterized in that x, y and z are selected in the intervals 0.5<=x<=2.5, 2.5<=y<=10 and 11<=z<=24.5 such that 15<=x+y+z<=36 and 1.5<=y/x<=13, the BN of the lubricant, determined according to the ASTM D-2896 standard, is not less than 70 mg KOH/g, and the speed at which sulfuric acid is neutralized by the lubricant, defined by the maximum speed of pressure increase of a closed chamber, with its walls covered with a film of said lubricant from 80 to 100 mum thick, maintained at 100° C., wherein is introduced a known amount of sulfuric acid, has a value not less than 11x102 Pa/s at 100° C.

Description

MARINE LUBRICANT FOR TWO-STROKE ENGINE

The present invention relates to a marine lubricant for a two-stroke engine with improved neutralization properties with respect to sulfuric acid formed during the combustion of fuels, in particular fuels, said to be high in sulfur content, that is to say greater than 1% by weight. It relates more particularly to a lubricant having a neutralizing power of sulfuric acid improved compared to that of marine lubricants on the market.

There are two types of marine oils used in slow, stock, 2-stroke engines. The cylinder oils on the one hand, ensuring the lubrication of the piston-cylinder assembly, and the system oils on the other hand, ensuring the lubrication of all the moving parts outside the piston-cylinder assembly.

We are interested here in cylinder oils for which the importance of neutralizing sulfuric acid is vital because it is a question of lubricating the part of the engine where there is combustion of the fuel. In this part, combustion residues, acid gases and lubricating oil are in contact.

It is usual to characterize an oil by its BN or Base Number in English, characterizing its basicity. It is measured in the majority of cases according to standard ASTM D-2896 and is expressed in equivalent in weight of potash per gram of oil or mg of KOH / g. The BN, until now, was a criterion of choice making it possible to adjust the basicity of the oil to the sulfur content of the fuel used, in order to be able to neutralize all the sulfur contained in the fuel, likely to transform into sulfuric acid by combustion. Thus, the higher the sulfur content of a fuel, the higher the BN of a marine oil. This is why, we find on the market marine oils of BN varying from 5 to 100 mg KOH / g.

However, the Applicant has noticed that the BN is not representative of the neutralization phenomenon itself even, as it takes place at the level of the oil film ensuring lubrication in the piston-cylinder assembly.

Thus, even for oils having a sufficiently high BN, we commonly observe at the level of the piston-cylinder assembly of the engines, corrosive wear phenomena linked to the attack on the metal walls of the elements concerned by sulfuric acid. The neutralization cannot be assessed by the BN alone of the oil, because this parameter does not make it possible to predict the effectiveness of the basic additives contained in the cylinder lubricants with respect to the sulfuric acid condensed in the oil, which, as demonstrated by A. Van Helden ("A Physico-Chemical Model of

Corrosive ear in Low Speed Engines ", Report D-9, CIMAC

1987) involves variable diffusion processes depending on the chemical nature of these additives.

Thus, although the oils are non-polar hydrocarbons, it is found that the acid products of the combustion of fuels, of polar nature and therefore hardly soluble in hydrocarbons, diffuse in oils. This diffusion phenomenon varies according to various factors such as the oil flow, the engine rotation speed and the wettability of the metal surface. All these factors are important as well as the BN to predict corrosive wear by sulfuric acid. However, to prevent this corrosion, two factors can be controlled by the lubricant manufacturers, BN and the wettability on the metal wall, which both depend on the chemical composition of the additives in the lubricating oil.

The Applicant has discovered that to prevent corrosion, it is necessary to know the rate of neutralization of the sulfuric acid, diffused in the lubricant, by the basic compounds of the additives present. Indeed, to be effective, these basic compounds must react with sulfuric acid before it reaches the metal walls of the cylinder, and this mainly in the oil film formed in the cylinder where the corrosion phenomenon is the more notable. To achieve the basicity desired in lubricants, that is to say a sufficient BN, several additive compositions are recommended by the manufacturers of lubricants for marine engines. Some of these manufacturers offer additive compositions containing a mixture of detergent of the phenate, salicylate and sulfonate type as described in patent EP 0 662 508 for diesel engines at low and medium speeds. Others recommend for marine engines lubricants containing mixtures of overbased detergents of sulfonate type and phenate type whose mass ratio varies from (1: 1) to (15: 1) and which also contain an ashless borate dispersant succinimide type as described in patents EP 0 331 359 and US 4,842,755.

Unexpectedly, the Applicant has found that a particular combination of detergent and dispersant additives makes it possible to improve the ability of the lubricant to neutralize the sulfuric acid produced during the combustion of sulfurized hydrocarbons.

In fact, the present invention relates to a lubricant having a sufficient basicity and a rapidity of neutralization of the sulfuric acid formed sufficient to prevent the corrosive wear phenomena observed in the 2-stroke, slow, buttered engine cylinders.

The subject of the present invention is therefore a lubricant for a 2-stroke, slow-stick, stock engine, supplied by a fuel with a sulfur content greater than or equal to 1%, consisting of a mixture of distillates used as lubricant bases containing x% by weight of succinimide dispersing additive, y% by weight of overbased detergent additive of sulfonate type, and z% by weight of overbased detergent additive of phenate type characterized in that x, y and z are chosen in the intervals 0.5 <x <2.5, 3.5 <y <10 and ll≤z <24.5 such that 15 <x + y + z <36 and 1.5 <y / x <13, that the BN of the lubricant, determined according to standard ASTM D-2896, is greater than or equal to 70 mg of KOH / g, and that the rate of neutralization by the sulfuric acid lubricant, defined by the maximum speed of pressure increase in a closed enclosure, with walls covered with a film of said lubricant, 80 to 150 μm thick, maintained at 100 ° C, in which introduces a known quantity of sulfuric acid, has a value greater than or equal to 11 × 10 ² Pa / s at 100 ° C.

The advantage of the method used to measure the speed of neutralization of sulfuric acid by the lubricant is to be able to reproduce the oil film present in the cylinder part of the marine engine and the reaction phenomenon of sulfuric acid with the overbased detergents in the presence of dispersant and thus approach a new and more adequate characteristic of the neutralizing power of these compositions. A more detailed description of the method used is given in Example I below.

By means of this device, the Applicant has found that in order to promote the increase in the speed of neutralization, the said lubricant must necessarily contain a sufficient quantity of a mixture of at least one overbased detergent of sulfonate type with at least one dispersant. succinimide type to avoid corrosion by sulfuric acid, and that this mixture was synergistic. The Applicant has made a particular selection of a mixture of additives to obtain a lubricant capable of rapidly neutralizing any acid invasion of the film formed inside the cylinder part of the engine where acid corrosion is generally observed.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the mass ratio y / x, overbased detergent of sulfonate type / dispersant of succinimide type preferably varies from 1.5 to 5.

Among the accessible detergents, the overbased detergents of the preferred sulfonate type are chosen from the group consisting of neutral and basic, alkaline and alkaline-earth metal salts of petroleum sulfonic acids and long chain BN alkylarylsulfonic acids determined by the standard. ASTM D-2896 varying from 300 to 500 mg KOH / g. In a preferred embodiment, these sulfonate compounds are alkaline earth metal alkylarylsulfonates, and preferably calcium mono and dialkylarylsulfonates, each alkyl group comprising from 12 to 18 carbon atoms, the aryl group being a benzyl, a tolyl or a xylenyl.

These overbased detergents of the sulfonate type are effective with regard to the neutralization of sulfuric acid in the film of lubricant when taken in combination with at least one dispersant of the succinimide type, this dispersant being chosen from the group consisting of derivatives succinimides from the group comprising polyalkenylsuccinimide borates in which the succinic acid or anhydride is derived from a polymer of a C ₃ or C ₄ olefin, preferably polyisobutylene with an average molecular weight of between 1000 and 3000, this acid or anhydride having reacted with a polyalkylpolyamine from the group consisting of diethylenetriamine, triethylenetetramine, tetraethylenepentamine and their mixture, and in which for each polyalkenyl group corresponds to 1 to 2 succinimide groups.

However, to ensure sufficient thermal resistance to the lubricant and to limit its oxidation, the lubricant contains an overbased detergent of the calcium phenate type, of BN determined by standard ASTM D-2896 varying from 50 to 400 mg of KOH / g, chosen from the group consisting of alkali and alkaline earth metal phenates of alkylphenols and alkylmercaptophenols, alkyl groups, linear or branched, comprising from 4 to 50 carbon atoms, preferably from 9 to 15 carbon atoms, taken alone or mixed.

Among the detergents of phenate type of the invention, a mixture of 95 to 100% by weight of calcium alkylmercaptophenates is preferred, the alkyl group comprising from 9 to 15 carbon atoms of BN varying from 200 to 400 mg of KOH / g and from 0 to 5% by weight of a calcium alkylmercaptophenate of BN less than 150 mg of KOH / g, the alkyl group comprising from 9 to 15 carbon atoms.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, for maximum efficiency with regard to the neutralization of sulfuric acid at the level of the film, the said lubricant for marine engine will advantageously contain x% by weight of polyisobutylenesuccinimide, comprising a group polyisobutylene for 1.1 to 1.8 succinimide groups, y% by weight of BN calcium sulfonate of between 300 and 500 mg of KOH / g, z% by weight of a mixture of calcium alkylmercaptophenates and 64 to 85% by weight of a mixture of hydrocarbons consisting of lubricating mineral bases with a density at 15 ° C varying from 850 to 950 Kg / m, known to those skilled in the art. The lubricant according to the invention may also contain from 0 to 1% of other additives, in particular an anti-foam additive.

Examples are given below to illustrate the invention, without however wishing to limit its scope.

EXAMPLE I

The purpose of this example is to describe the method used to measure the speed of neutralization of a lubricant.

This method uses the device represented in FIG. 1. This consists of a cylindrical glass container (1), heated by a thermostated oil bath (2), into which the sample of lubricating composition is introduced. test, by a motor (3) allowing the cylindrical container (1) to rotate around its axis of revolution, and by two magnetic bars, one outside (4) and the other (5) inside said container ( 1), so as to form a film 100 μm thick on the glass wall (6). The cylindrical glass container (1) is connected at one of its planar ends to a tube (7) provided with a septum allowing the introduction of acid with a syringe, and to the other end of an expansion vessel (8) fitted with a pressure sensor (9) enabling pressure variations to be monitored inside the cylindrical container / expansion vessel (l) / (8) assembly during the entire period of introduction of the acid and even during neutralization. A recorder (10) is connected to said sensor (9) on which the pressure variations in the cylindrical container / expansion vessel (l) / (8) assembly are followed.

To quantitatively measure the neutralization speed of the lubricant, 2 g of the said lubricant are introduced into the cylindrical container (1), then by starting the engine (3) at 1.5 rpm, a homogeneous film of oil is formed. (5) on the walls of said cylinder container (1) and the temperature of the bath (2) is adjusted to 100 ° C. to obtain a homogeneous film. An insufficient temperature of the bath does not make it possible to obtain this homogeneous film which also forms inside a two-stroke engine. Finally, the recording of the internal pressure of the system is started and 2 ml of 95% sulfuric acid are introduced in less than 0.5 seconds.

Figure 2 shows a record of the pressure change for the test described. The curve includes three phases, phase 1 of initiation of the reaction, phase 2 of neutralization whose slope allows us to calculate the speed of neutralization and phase 3 of stabilization of the pressure in the cylindrical container (1).

EXAMPLE 2

The present example aims to show the influence of the chemical composition of the lubricant or of its BN on the neutralization rate as measured according to the method and with the device described in previous example I. The lubricant samples are prepared with a mineral base obtained by mixing at least one distillate 1 with a density at 15 ° C. of between 880 and

₃ 895 Kg / m with a density distillate 2 at 15 ° C between 890 and 910 Kg / m (Brightstock) in a distillate 1 / distillate 2 ratio of 3.5.

Was added to this mixture of distillates, the necessary quantities of calcium sulfonate of BN equal to 400 mg of KOH / g, of a dispersant L890 marketed by LUBRIZOL, of a first calcium phenate, of BN 250 mg of KOH / g and a second calcium phenate, BN 100 mg KOH / g, to obtain lubricant samples of BN 40 mg KOH / g or 70 mg KOH / g.

Table I below groups together the respective neutralization rates of the BN lubricant samples equal to either 40 mg of KOH / g, or to 80 mg of KOH / g, the sulfonate / dispersant mass ratio of which is varied for a constant content. as calcium phenates of BN 250 and BN 100 in the lubricant.

TABLE I

These results in Table I show the synergy that exists between the sulfonate compounds and the dispersants of the invention with regard to the rate of neutralization of sulfuric acid, in a film reproduced by means of the device of Example I.

Table II below groups together the respective neutralization rates of the lubricant samples whose sulfonate / dispersant mass ratio remains constantly equal to 4.46, and for which the BN is varied from 40 at 100 mg KOH / g, that is to say by varying the dilution rate of the additives in the mixture of distillates.

TABLE II

These two tables underline the influence of the different characteristics of BN, of sulfonate / dispersant mass ratio, on obtaining a sufficient neutralization rate.

However, it also appears that the only choice of BN or of the sulfonate / dispersant ratio is insufficient to obtain an optimal neutralization rate for a sufficient additive concentration. It is therefore clear that to obtain a finished lubricant having an effective neutralization of sulfuric acid, it is necessary to adjust the three characteristics of BN, of overbased detergent ratio of sulfonate type / dispersant of succinimide type and of rate of neutralization of the lubricant film.

Claims

RF.VENDTCATIONS

- Lubricant for 2-stroke marine engine, slow, with stock, supplied with a fuel with sulfur content greater than or equal to 1%, consisting of a mixture of distillates used as lubricating bases containing x% by weight of dispersing additive succinimide type, y% by weight of overbased detergent additive of sulfonate type, and z% by weight of overbased detergent additive of phenate type characterized in that x, y and z are chosen in the intervals 0.5 <x <2 , 5, 3.5 <y <10 and ll≤z <24.5 such that 15 <x + y + z <36 and 1.5 <y / x <13, that the BN of the lubricant, determined according to standard ASTM D-2896, is greater than or equal to 70 mg of KOH / g, and the speed of neutralization by the lubricant of sulfuric acid, defined by the maximum speed of increase in pressure of a closed enclosure, the walls covered with a film of said lubricant from 80 to 150 μm thick, maintained at 100 ° C., in which a known quantity of sulfuric acid is vaporized, has a value greater than or equal to 11 x 10 ² Pa / s at 100 ° C.

- Lubricant according to claim 1 characterized in that the mass ratio y / x is between 1.5 to 5.

- Lubricant according to either of Claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the overbased detergents of the sulfonate type are chosen from the group consisting of neutral and basic, alkali and alkaline-earth metal salts of petroleum sulfonic acids and alkylarylsulfonic acids long-chain BN determined by ASTM D-2896 ranging from 300 to 500 mg KOH / g.

- Lubricant according to claim 3 characterized in that the overbased detergents of the sulfonate type are alkylarylsulfonates of alkaline earth metals, and preferably mono and dialkylarylsulfonates of calcium, each alkyl group comprising from 12 to 18 carbon atoms, the aryl group being a benzyl, a tolyl or a xylenyl.

- Lubricant according to one of claims 1 to 4 characterized in that the succinimide dispersant is chosen from the group consisting of polyalkenylsuccinimide borates in which the succinic acid or anhydride is derived from a polymer of an olefin C ₃ or C ₄ , preferably polyisobutylene with an average molecular weight of between 1000 and 3000, this acid or anhydride having reacted with a polyalkyl polyamine from the group consisting of diethylenetriamine, triethylenetetramine, tetraethylene pentamine and their mixture, and in which for each polyalkenyl group corresponds from 1 to 2 succinimide groups.

- Lubricant according to one of Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the overbased detergent of the phenate type is chosen from the group consisting of alkali and alkaline earth metal phenates of alkylphenols and alkyl mercaptophenols, linear alkyl groups or branched, comprising from 4 to 50 carbon atoms, preferably from 9 to 15 carbon atoms, taken alone or as a mixture. so that its BN, determined by standard ASTM D-2896, varies from 50 to 400 mg of KOH / g.

- Lubricant according to claim 6 characterized in that the overbased detergent of the phenate type consists of 95 to 100% by weight of calcium calcium alkyl mercaptophenates varying from 200 to 400 mg of KOH / g, the alkyl group comprising from 9 to 15 carbon atoms and from 0 to 5% by weight of a calcium calcium alkyl mercaptophenate of less than 150 mg of KOH / g, the alkyl group comprising from 9 to 15 carbon atoms. - Lubricant according to one of claims 1 to 7 characterized in that it contains x% by weight of polyisobutylenesuccinimide, comprising a polyisobutylene group for 1.1 to 1.8 succinimide groups, y% by weight of calcium sulfonate from BN between 300 and 500 mg of KOH / g, z% by weight of a mixture of calcium alkylmercaptophenates and 64 to 85% by weight of a mixture of hydrocarbons consisting of mineral bases lubricating density 15 ° C varying from 850 to 950 Kg / m.

- Lubricant according to one of claims 1 to 8 characterized in that it contains from 0 to 1% by weight of other additives, in particular an anti-foam additive.