What is hydrocracking?

In simple terms, hydrocracking is a technology for refining, and for improving the characteristics and parameters of a mineral base to “synthetic” level, through complex chemical processing. Although hydrocracked oil is, in essence, made from crude oil just like mineral oil, the molecular structure is altered to such a degree that at the molecular level the end product has nothing left in common with a mineral base.

So what's the result? The result is an oil base that, in terms of its characteristics, is already significantly better and cleaner than mineral oil, but as a rule still falls short of synthetic oil made using modern technologies. That said, the cost of hydrocracking is several times lower than that of synthesis, which is why hydrocracked engine oils are, as a rule, considerably cheaper than synthetic ones.

A bit of clarification is needed here. Just as there's no limit to how far synthesis technology can be perfected, there's no limit to how far hydrocracking technology can be perfected either. In theory, you could probably make a hydrocracked oil that outperforms some specific synthetic oil on every parameter, but it's fair to assume that at the very least this would be too expensive, so nobody bothers — oils are made for quite specific purposes, meaning quality classes under the known classifications and manufacturer approvals, in other words, for a particular set of requirements.

Production of oils using catalytic hydrocracking technology began in the USA in the 1970s. And today practically every leading oil producer has hydrocracked bases for producing engine oils.

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