Additive technologies able to successfully lubricate gas engines have been available for many years, but in recent years the acceleration of both commercial and technical demands placed on gas engine lubricants has highlighted the performance limits of traditional additive solutions. One of these limits is the ability to reach long and very long oil drains, required by an increasing number of operators. Since traditional additive chemistries on conventional base oil systems have reached their limits in that respect, focus has been increasingly placed on using higher performance base oils so that longer oil drains can be reached. However, traditional additive chemistries have often proved to struggle in these higher performance base oils, particularly in the aspect of deposit control — demonstrating that a new generation of additive systems for the formulation of gas engine oils is needed. The authors present one such generation of additive systems, developed around off-the-beaten-track detergent technology; providing superior control of oxidation and deposits. Such additive systems can be used either in conventional base oil systems with improved drain interval, or in high performance base oil systems with very long drain interval and excellent control of deposits. Besides the description of the chemistry involved, the authors also present a methodology of performance evaluation in the laboratory, and compare this methodology with the performance perceived in the field.
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