Lube oil consumptions impact on environment

The problem of lube oil consumption has been the point of interest of scientists for years,first because of economy and later - because of stringent standards of environment protection. From the point of economy lube oil consumption is not a problem of modern engines. On the other hand even a brief look proves that there is a quite wide range of admissible consumption from negligible values up to even l litr per 100 km. The question is why this range is so wide. Possible answer is that engine manufacturers leave so wide margin taking into consideration situations of very short trips, mainly in towns, when engine runs not fully warmed up with greater clearances, especially within the piston-cylinder assembly. Any oil consumption results in emission of particulate matter, which conveys a weighty number of hydrocarbons of which the most manifest serious hazardous properties, mainly carcinogenic ones. Nowadays, standards of environment protection require for instance the use of diesel particle filters and the excessive oil consumption could lead to the premature damage of these devices. Correct operation of the DPF could be disturbed not only by the excessive oil consumption but also by the use of improper oil, i.e. the non-low ash one. Certain additives that improve oil properties could produce ash as a result of oil combustion, which could clog filter irreversibly.