Lubricity Testing

The SBOCLE and HFRR tests are tests that were developed to measure the lubricity of fuels. The HFRR test was adopted as the standard for lubricity of fuel and is based on wear scar readings measured in microns. The smaller the wear scar, the better the lubricity. Due to the lubricity issues concerning Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel, the ASTM developed a new HFRR standard. Refineries are required to include lubricity additives to meet this new standard. Under the new standard, the maximum wear scar the fuel may allow is 520 microns. Unfortunately, this is well above the Engine Manufactures Association (EMA) recommendations. The EMA recommends a maximum wear scar of 460 microns and would prefer even less. The EMA rating has been adopted by Cummins Engine as a satisfactory lubricity rating for their engines.

LubriMax-D was developed using the HFRR wear scar data of unadditized Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) with an HFRR rating of 650+ microns as a benchmark. This was done primarily as a safeguard for the consumer because lubricity additive packages that are supposed to be added to the fuel sometimes fail to reach the end user.

In HFRR tests using unadditized* Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel, LubriMax-D produced HFRR wear scar readings below the Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA) rating of 460 microns.
 

*    Unadditized ULSD consisted of raw #2 ULSD with no lubricity enhancing additives added and with an HFRR wear scar rating of 650+ microns. (Refinery diesel)