94chem said:
Was watching these Pennzoil ads talking about how their motor oil is made from natural gas instead of crude oil, and how that makes it more pure. There are just so many things untrue about this. It would drive me crazy if marketing people took some technology and made up stuff to sell it. I guess we all have conflicts from time to time, but this is just blatant misrepresentation.
Anybody remember when the sucralose people said "it tastes like sugar because it's made from sugar." Just made my skin crawl to see a fib like that. They replaced 3 hydroxyl groups and sold this poly-chlorinated molecule that started as sugar. They had to cease and desist... I'd just feel dirty as the inventor.
How is the sugar ad lying? It technically is made from sugar; it taste sweet because you left the parts that connect with the sweet taste buds, but chemically altered it so your body couldn't use it. (being pedantic) How is that technically wrong or lying? If it didn't taste sweet after processing, that would be lying. If they started with lignose (or whatever you want to call wood pulp) and made it into sugar, you could argue it's lying (although most organically sourced materials are sugars). Unless you started with waste fats and made sugar, then that's lying.
With the oils bit, I would argue that it is kind of like math. The only thing that matters is the answer. If you can get to the standard (API, ASE, ASME, etc.) required with the fewest steps and cheapest raw materials, how is that bad? Marketing isn't going to advertise "We use the cheapest s***, but you pay the most!".
Being a PhD chemical engineer knee-deep in designs of plants (some of which you mentioned), I agree that marketing and reality are usually not the same. But this is more of being pedantic about processes, not actually lying/not lying. If you want to have lots of fun, start looking at compressor oil standards/specs, various manufacturers and requirements. The fun begins when you realize that about 2-3 manufacturers make the majority (if not all) of the oils for that field. But there are about 10 to 50+ suppliers, depending on what you are looking for.
And newer FT chemistry allows more tailoring of the end products you want. The bigger issue is you still have a wide range of products that are produced and you have to clean that up. How much you want to clean is dependent on how much you want to pay...
~egon