ILMA Compoundings - April 2021 - 14

INDUSTRY RUNDOWN

The Future of Heavy-Duty
Lubricants
By Darryl Purificati

rotecting the internal components of heavy-duty
engines is about more than just efficiency. Highquality engine oil is the lifeblood of the engine and
will determine how an operator's time and resources are
spent. Given its importance, there is a consistent industry
drive to adapt heavy-duty engine oils to continue to meet
the needs of evolving engines and the margins involved in
running them efficiently. How have heavy-duty engine oils
evolved to meet the demands of today's engines, and what
can we expect from such lubricants in the future?

THE EVOLUTION OF HEAVY-DUTY LUBRICANTS
Heavy-duty engine oils have evolved considerably over the
past decades to meet the needs and requirements of modern
engine design, environmental legislation and vehicle emission regulations. In the past decade, there have been two
key evolutions of heavy-duty engine oils: the introduction
of API CK-4 and FA-4 engine oils, and the transition to
lower-viscosity lubricants.
The adoption of API CK-4 engine oils following their
launch late in 2016 has been successful, with the lubricants
offering greater resistance to oxidation in addition to
improved aeration control and shear stability. These benefits
combine to offer superior engine protection and present the
opportunity to extend oil-drain intervals* to keep fleets on
the road longer between scheduled maintenance.
Their counterparts - API FA-4 lubricants - have been
adopted at a slower rate, as the oils are formulated specifically for use with some newer engine designs. However, the
use of API FA-4 engine oils is slowly increasing and will
hopefully increase faster over the coming years, with fleets
benefiting from up to a 1% fuel economy improvement over
the same viscosity-grade API CK-4 oils, while maintaining
the same superior engine protection.
The trend toward low-viscosity lubricants has also
gathered pace over the last decade. This has been driven by
the need for improved fleet performance and reduced fuel
consumption, along with modern engine architecture.

APRIL 2021

| COMPOUNDINGS | ILMA.ORG

Today's engine architecture includes tighter clearances,
which require thinner lubricants that can flow easily around
the engine - this has been a key driver for the transition
toward lower-viscosity lubricants.
THE FUTURE OF HEAVY-DUTY LUBRICANTS
Looking ahead, the trend toward lower-viscosity engine
oils is set to continue, not only within the latest API CK-4
category, but also as part of the ongoing transition toward
API FA-4 lubricants. This can be seen quite clearly when
looking to the passenger car industry, where engines are
becoming more efficient due to legislation and consumer
demand. In turn, engine oils have a lower viscosity to
maximize the engine power output without compromising
on performance.
Despite the transition to PC-11, which came into effect
in 2016, PC-12 is already on the horizon. PC-12 will be
developed based on Phase 3 of the greenhouse gas emissions
standards from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
and California Air Resources Board (CARB) and will be
tentatively timetabled for 2027. Although the EPA and
CARB announcement is yet to be made, we can assume that
PC-12 will include a focus on even lower-viscosity grades
such as 5W-30 and 5W-20 as we continue the trend toward
lower viscosity.
The heavy-duty engine oil industry has been in a period of
transition for several years - moving toward lower-viscosity
lubricants and dealing with the continuing technological
advancement of engine architecture. The road map to lowerviscosity engine oils and further improvements is marked
out, and it will be here sooner than we think.
*Extending drain intervals should always be undertaken in conjunction
with an oil-analysis program.

Purificati is OEM technical liaison at Petro-Canada
Lubricants, a HollyFrontier brand.

http://www.ILMA.ORG

ILMA Compoundings - April 2021

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