Synthetic Ester Base Oils
CHORUS offers a selection of synthetic ester base oils for the lubricants industry. These synthetic esters work as base oils or additives in a wide range of lubricant products, including engine oils, hydraulic oils, aviation lubricants, compressor oils, chain oils, gear oils, and other industrial oils.
Ester Base Oils are classified into API Group V with other types of base oils, e.g., polyalkylene glycol (PAG), phosphate ester, silicone, and others.
Synthetic esters are widely used as base stocks in ester-based lubricant formulations.
e.g., esters are commonly blended with hydrocarbon base stocks such as Polyalphaolefin (PAO), Gas-to-Liquid (GTL), and Coal-to-Liquid (CTL) to enhance overall formulation properties. These benefits include improved seal swell, better additive solubility, deposit control, and increased lubricity.
Advantages of synthetic ester lubricants
- Excellent oxidation stability and thermal stability
- Good low temperature fluidity
- High viscosity index
- Good lubricity and anti-wear properties
- Low evaporation loss
- Excellent solubility, compatible with additives and other Lubricants.
- Excellent biodegradability and renewability
Chorus Lubricant Additives supplies a variety of synthetic esters, including di-esters, Trimellitate(TM), Trimethylolpropane Esters (TMP), and polyol esters (POE). Contact us for the synthetic ester specifications and the latest prices.
Synthetic Ester Base Oils for compressor oils.
Due to the insufficient low-temperature performance of mineral oils, air compressor oil based on traditional mineral oils has poor viscosity-temperature performance, which can cause difficulty in starting at low temperatures in winter.
Nowadays, for better performance, compressor oil mainly uses esters and Polyalphaolefin (PAO) as base oils.
For example, synthetic compressor oils based on diesters, compared with mineral base oil, were first promoted and widely used due to their superior low-temperature performance, low friction coefficient, high oil film strength, low carbon deposits, eco-friendliness, and significant service life.
Synthetic Ester Base Oils for Refrigeration Oils.
Refrigeration oil is a special lubricant for refrigerant compressors, which plays the role of lubrication, sealing, rust prevention, and cooling in the compressor.
The lubricants used in refrigeration compressor systems mainly use mineral oil, poly-alfa olefin oil (PAO), alkylbenzene synthetic oil, polyalkylene glycols oil (PAG), and polyol ester oil (POE) as base oils and others. Different refrigeration systems have different requirements for refrigeration oil.
CHORUS provides a series of saturated polyol esters (POE). They can be used alone or in combination with PAO or high-quality mineral oil to blend fully synthetic or semi-synthetic refrigeration compressor oils, suitable for R-134a, R-407C, and R-410A refrigerants.
Synthetic Esters for Engine Oils
Although the cost of ester base stock is much higher than that of traditional mineral base oils. Due to the diversity of ester types, the use of ester base oils in lubricant formulations can produce special properties, which has an important improvement on the formulation. The characteristics of esters will be able to meet the needs of lubricants for strong polarity, good lubricity, low volatility, controlled deposits, good low-temperature performance, and biodegradability.
Ester base oils, due to their unique molecular polarity, are an ideal choice for blending with polyalphaolefins (PAOs). Their functions include:
- Improving the solubility and compatibility of additives in fully synthetic engine oils;
- Acting as a sealant expander to balance seal shrinkage caused by PAOs;
- Increase the lubricity.
- In high-end engine oil formulations, the recommended addition level of ester oils is typically 5%–20%.
Synthetic Esters for Chain oils
Generally, the operating temperature of synthetic ester chain oil is 220℃~260℃, and the base oil of high-temperature chain oil mostly adopts synthetic esters with excellent high-temperature performance.
These synthetic esters usually have excellent thermal oxidation stability, low evaporation loss, less coking, excellent lubrication performance, good viscosity-temperature performance, and high viscosity.
Trimellitate (TM) and Polyol Ester (POE) are the most commonly used synthetic esters in high-temperature oven lubricants.
Get in touch for the latest ester prices and specifications.
Synthetic Esters for aviation engine oil
Chorus supplies a series of Polyol esters and Di-esters for aviation lubricant applications.
FAQ
Q: What are the main types of synthetic esters?
A: There are many types of synthetic esters, but the mainstream synthetic esters used as base oils in the lubricating oil market mainly include: polyol esters, diesters, trimellitic esters, and complex esters.
Polyol Esters: The Mainstream High-Performance Base Oil in the Synthetic Ester Market
Polyol esters are one of the most widely used and technologically mature categories in the current synthetic ester market. They are synthesized from polyols such as neopentyl glycol (NPG), trimethylolpropane (TMP), or pentaerythritol (PE) through esterification reactions with fatty acids.
Core Advantage: High Thermal Stability
The most outstanding performance characteristic of polyol esters is their excellent thermal stability. Under the same viscosity conditions, the thermal decomposition temperature of polyol esters is 30–50°C higher than that of diesters. This characteristic makes them the ideal choice for high-temperature applications such as aviation turbine lubricants.
Wide Performance Range
The viscosity range of polyol esters covers ISO VG 5 to 220, meeting the needs of various operating conditions from low-temperature high-speed to high-temperature heavy-load. At the same time, their hydrolytic stability is also significantly better than that of diesters.
Application Positioning: High-end Lubrication Field
Although polyol esters are far superior to traditional mineral base oils in terms of thermal stability, oxidation stability, and lubricity, their production cost is relatively high. Therefore, they are currently mainly used in high-end lubrication fields such as aviation lubricants, high-performance compressor oils, high-temperature chain oils, and high-end engine oils.
Dual Role: Base Oil and Additive
Polyol esters can be used as base oils in high-end lubricants, and can also be added in small amounts as functional additives to enhance additive solubility, improve lubricity, improve seal compatibility, and enhance high-temperature cleanliness.
Q: What advantages do synthetic esters have over mineral oils?
A: Esters offer several key advantages:
Better thermal stability;
Lower pour points improve low-temperature performance;
For example, some diesters can achieve pour points as low as -70°C, making them particularly suitable for use in low-temperature aviation hydraulic fluids. Some synthetic esters have high flash points, approx 300 °C, such as certain dipentaerythritol esters ( Di-PE), which have particularly high flash points and low volatility, making them particularly suitable for blending lubricants for high-temperature ovens.
Many esters are biodegradable, which makes them suitable for environmentally sensitive applications.
Different synthetic esters have unique strengths and weaknesses. In short, an ester is engineered to do what mineral oils cannot. Get in touch and tell us your detailed applications, and we will recommend the proper types of ester base oils.
Q: Saturated ester? Unsaturated ester?
A:
Unsaturated esters – represented by oleate ester
The most typical oleate is formed by esterification of oleic acid (C18:1, monounsaturated). Oleates have excellent biodegradability, achieving 90-100% biodegradability in a 21-day CEC test, far superior to saturated esters. However, this comes at the cost of poor oxidative stability.
Typical applications of oleates include: two-stroke engine oils, greases, and biodegradable hydraulic fluids – these applications have mild oxidative conditions but high environmental requirements.
e.g.: Trimethylolpropane Trioleate (TMPTO) is a synthetic ester base oil with excellent lubrication properties, a high viscosity index, good flame resistance, and a high biodegradation rate. It is mainly used as a base fluid for Fire-resistant hydraulic oil (HFD-U) &additive in metalworking fluids.
Saturated esters – polyol esters are the mainstream
The mainstream industrial synthetic esters – NPG esters, TMP esters, PE esters – typically use saturated acids. Without C=C bonds, their oxidative stability is much better.
This is why aviation turbine oils are almost exclusively saturated polyol esters – stability is paramount under high-temperature oxidative conditions.
e.g.: POE is a series of saturated polyol esters based on pentaerythritol esters, available in various viscosity grades
These synthetic esters are primarily used as base oils in high-end industrial lubrication applications e.g. aviation lubricants and refrigeration compressor oils.
We're professional synthetic ester manufacturers and suppliers in China, specialized in providing high quality products and service. We warmly welcome you to buy customized synthetic ester at competitive price from our factory. Contact us for more details.
Trimethylolpropane TMP Ester, Diester