What is the Mainstream Pour Point Depressant for Motor Oil? A simple glance at Polymethyl methacrylate (PMA)

Pour Point Depressant (PPD) is a chemical that can reduce the freezing or pour point of lubricating oil and improve the low-temperature flow performance of oil.

Almost all paraffin-based mineral-based oils contain a small amount of wax. When the temperature drops, some waxy components will crystallize and precipitate from the liquid, forming small crystals, and the liquid begins to become turbid. The temperature at which this turbidity occurs is called Cloud Point.

As the wax component crystallizes more and more, the crystals will grow into flakes, and when the temperature keeps dropping, the flake crystals will combine into a three-dimensional network, and the oil is difficult to flow. The lowest temperature at which oil can flow is defined as the pour point.

Polymethyl methacrylate PMA

Polymethyl methacrylate PMA is the best pour point depressant product, occupying a leading position in the global market, far exceeding other types of pour point depressants.

For PMA to effectively interact with wax, the R group must be linear and contain at least 14 carbon atoms. Due to the existence of a distribution range in the length of wax molecular chains in oil products, to achieve optimal activity of pour point depressants, the chain length of R groups also needs to have a similar distribution.

Generally speaking, the reactivity between alkyl groups and wax increases with the growth of molecular chains, but the optimal reaction degree needs to be achieved by balancing the chain length of alkyl groups that interact with wax.

As a pour point depressant, the average carbon number of the alkyl side chains of PMA needs to be above 12 to display the pour point depressant effect, with 14 Carbon esters being the best.

In order to adapt to various viscosities and pour points obtained from different dewaxing depths, as well as lubricating oils from different oil sources, it is necessary to adjust the average carbon number of alkyl side chains and produce a series of pour point depressants to meet the requirements of different oil products.

The dosage of PMA is usually between 0.1% and 0.5% (mass fraction).