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On-line measurement of oil consumption is of interest in light of new environmental regulations imposed on today’s high-performance engines. Lubricant consumption has a negative impact on the environment, but it also reduces the lifetime of post-treatment systems by poisoning catalysts and clogging particle filters. A new method was recently developed by Delta Services Industriels (DSi) and TOTAL France for monitoring oil consumption on running engines. It is based on lubricant labeling using new radiotracer compounds, which are made representative of the distillation interval of the base oil. Oil consumption measurement is performed in the exhaust line where tracer residues are trapped in a filter and are monitored continuously. This paper describes the new methodology and presents experimental results obtained on various fired engines, for various operating conditions.

The lifetime of the new technologies of after-treatment devices is influenced by the composition of engine oil, making it necessary to study the compatibility of lubricants with these devices. These compatibility tests usually evaluate parameters such as the long-term performance of after-treatment systems, the quantity and nature of accumulated residues due to the lubricant used, back-pressure increase, etc. This paper presents a novel, non-destructive radionuclide technique based on labeling the different elements in the engine oil (e.g. zinc and calcium), that provides additional information to after-treatment system compatibility tests: on-line measurement in the after-treatment device of the accumulation of elements from oil additives, and visualization of their distribution inside the device (inlet/outlet). Most of the work presented here focuses on the accumulation of zinc and calcium from the lubricant in a Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF).