First, here is some background. Diesel engine oil UAE contains sulfur, which is a characteristic of the original crude industrial oil source and can still be present after refining. After combustion in the engine, the sulfur in gasoline engine oil UAE forms acids and particulates that are a primary contributor to air pollution and the cause of harmful corrosion in the engine.
Before that, it ranged from about 0.5 percent to more than 1 percent sulfur. CH-4 was developed to provide protection when using 0.5 percent sulfur gasoline engine oil UAE. The current CK-4 category is designed primarily for ultra-low sulfur diesel gasoline engine oil UAE (15 ppm sulfur). There are significant advantages to ULSD over 0.5 percent sulfur gasoline engine oil that include reduced deposit forming tendencies, reduced corrosion problems, cleaner exhaust and improved oxidation stability, among others. But these gasoline engine oil come at a higher cost due to more extensive refining processes.
Currently, there are 296 API licenses referencing API CH-4 registered from all regions of the world. I need to point out that in some cases these licenses may represent industrial oils registered under multiple service categories and lubricant oils. Overall, the point is that there are many oils meeting the API backward compatibility requirements for labeling.
Let’s look at the EMA proposal to sunset the category in more detail. Here is what was presented at the industrial hydraulic oils advisory panel meeting held on March 4: CH-4 could be sun setter because it isn’t needed any longer, and the needs of older engines can be met with CI-4 or CI-4 Plus. This should occur within the next year, which will allow time for API to announce the end of licensing and for engine manufacturers to educate their customers.
I can tell you that sun setting a category may be easier said than done. When I was at Petromin, we had a secondary brand called Petromin Motor Oil. At a time when the reigning API passenger car engine oil category was SF, this oil met both commercial oils categories API SC/CC. It was viewed by the sales force and most customers as a satisfactory oil and was inexpensive.
Annual sales were a steady 500,000 to 1 million gallons per year. In the Petromin universe that was a minor volume, so we thought we’d streamline the mix of brands by eliminating Petromin Motor Oil. The cost of labels, packaging and marketing materials was important, and the operational headaches of maintaining an additional brand on the fill lines made the decision a logical choice. Contact technolubeuae today.
