Pace Quickens for PAO

摘要

Low-viscosity polyal-phaolefin demand is slated to see 7 percent average annual growth through 2020, according to an industry insider. But the world has only a handful of producers of this synthetic base oil, and they could be stymied by tight feedstock supply, an excess of competing products and the unknow- able impact of gas-to-liquids base oils. Polyalphaolefins (PAOs) are classified by the American Petroleum Institute as Group IV synthetic base oils, and they offer some performance properties that are far better than those of Group I mineral base oils, says Frank De Rudder of Chevron Phillips Chemicals International.