Investigations on calcium carboxylate and sulfonate additive incompatibilities in a preservation oil

Abstract

Severe quality defects of a well-established preservation oil ranging from improper viscosity values to the formation of calcium carboxylate precipitates led to detailed investigations on the origin of these failures. Chemical analyses employing spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques focusing on the product's additives were performed. Thereupon, a mechanism for precipitate formation based on a delicate interaction between solubilizer, carboxylates, sulfonates and calcium ions was proposed. For this mechanism, ligand properties of sulfonates play a vital role: In contrast to monosulfonates, disulfonates seem to impede precipitation of calcium carboxylates.