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C. Besser, C. Lenauer, K. Steinschütz, F. Novotny-Farkas:
"Chemical Evaluation Of Engine Oil Performance In The Presence Of Bio-Ethanol By Artificial Alteration";
Talk: 3rd European Conference on Tribology, Wien (invited); 2011-06-07 - 2011-06-09.

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to environmental issues of engine technology resulting in downsizing or turbocharging, growing use of bio-fuels for combustion and legislative concerns [1]. In the transportation sector, bio-diesel for diesel vehicles and bio-ethanol for gasoline engines are used, respectively. Whereas there is much knowledge about bio-diesel and its impact on the engine itself, the lubricated system, and the emissions [2-3], the effect of ethanol and in particular its partial combustion products is still unclear.
Engine oils as important machine part significantly contribute to the proper operation of vehicles.
As R&D efforts must remain within reasonable limits, a method for artificial alteration is proposed for the time and cost efficient pre-selection of new engine oil formulations, e.g. with improved
corrosion protection and reduced sludge formation potential. Alteration parameters were adapted to real-life conditions in engines to simulate close-to-reality oil deterioration on a laboratory scale.
This alteration method was used to evaluate the impact of bio-ethanol and its combustion products - acetic acid and acetaldehyde - on the deterioration characteristics of different engine oils.
Additionally, engine bench tests were accomplished to investigate the performance of these oils at real-life conditions. In this publication, the oil analytical findings of lab-based alteration and oil alteration at the roller test bench are presented.

bio-fuels, ethanol, engine oil degradation, artificial alteration, contamination