Quality Monitoring for Domestic Distributing Engine Oil

The vehicle lubricant has captured 35% of the total lubricant market while the engine oil possessed 77% of the vehicle lubricant market in Korea. The suitable quality management of circulating engine oil is thus required for the driver and engine protection. But, KS and synthetic engine oil products (containing over 30% synthetic oil) are exempt to any quality inspections under Petroleum and Alternative Fuel Business Act. In this study, our research group investigated the quality monitoring of 30 kinds of domestic distributing synthetic engine oils. Two kinds of the engine oil showed an off specification from the test results; one engine oil is an imported and the other is a KS synthetic one. Also, the pattern of engine oils were analyzed using SIMDIST (simulated distillation) and the most engine oils had a broad carbon number spectrum, which is a typical of mineral oils except several imported products. Thus, we concluded that relevant laws for the proper quality management of synthetic oils and KS products are needed to be established for preventing consumer's damages.