RE: synth vs. Sino Manufacture Techniques

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	-----Original Message-----
	From:	Robert Myers [SMTP:rmyers@inetone.net]
	Sent:	Wednesday, August 12, 1998 5:49 PM
	To:	Sheffield Corey
	Cc:	Quattro list
	Subject:	Re: synth vs. Sino Manufacture Techniques


	>
	>Hi Doug et al,
	>
	>	I'm a geophysicist, not a chemist; but a few years back I
asked an
	>Amsoil sales type how THEIR product was made as he was running on
about the
	>Mobil 1 of the time having a 25% petroleum based carrier so it
wasn't 100%
	>synthetic. He claimed that they (Amsoil) mixed sulfuric acid with
ethyl
	alcohol
	>to create their base stock 

	This would produce gaseous ethylene, the monomer from which
polymeric
	polyethylene would be made.  It could be used as feedstock for a
variety of
	syntheses.

	Could "they" be trying to cover their actions with mumbo-jumbo?
Remember
	some years back when Shell Oil was advertising that they and only
they had
	an additive in their gasoline which made their product superior to
all
	other gasolines.  They called the stuff Platformate (tm).  It was
produced
	by platinum catalyzed reformation of petroleum feed stocks.  Now,
the fact
	that virtually all other producers of gasoline included platinum
reformate
	in their gasoline was of no significance.  They couldn't use the
term
	Platformate because Shell had registered it as their trademark.

	>and then buffered it back to a neutral pH 

	Huh?  Run that one by me again.  Why would this be necessary since
the
	ethylene produced would come out of the reaction mixture as a gas?
If you
	are talking about disposing of spent sulfuric acid then this might
be one
	possibility.  Probably the least attractive possibility, at that.

	>and added
	>their additive package. I can't prove that this is true and maybe
it was
	methyl
	>alcohol...

	Methyl alcohol makes little sense here.

	>I prefer to think that my car is lubed with ethyl...like its
owner...
	>on occasion. Notice that I didn't say driver:-) So, if this is true
you do
	not
	>need a deep hole in Mother Nature to get your base stock from; just
some
	nasty
	>ol' sulfuric acid(we've got huge piles of sulfur layin' around make
acid
	runoff
	>in Louisianna), so using that stuff up is good. 

	This is, of course, debatable.

	>And some alcohol; we've got lots
	>of surplus corn

	Not so much anymore.  The world has a population which is just
barely
	sustainable in good crop years.  Ever increasing amount of
fertilizer and
	insecticides are r3equired to maintain current levels of production.
	Resistant strains of insects are showing up (like antibiotic
resistant
	bacteria) which creates even more havoc.  Corn is not the solution
to all
	our environmental problems.

	>; and, every drop of the stuff that goes towards our cars is a
	>drop that can't be drunk...hopefully, and some would say that that
is good
	too.

	That's a point for you.

	>And that is why synthetic oil has environmental benefits:-)

	>HTH,
	>
	>Shef
	>
	>P.S. Where's our resident retired chemist; was it Doc Meyers???

	Rat cheer is whar Ah is at.  :-)


	___
	   Bob
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