Dr Moray Stark

01904 322537
Email: moray.stark@york.ac.uk

Oxidation of Hydrocarbons

Understanding how hydrocarbons undergo oxidation has become a major concern in today's world. Building on previous work on the low temperature combustion of hydrocarbons, our current research interests centre on two areas:

Degradation Chemistry of Lubricants and Biofuels

Automotive engine lubricants play a key role in the transport infrastructure of modern society. The environment that lubricants experience can be highly aggressive, so lubricants contain a complex mixture of additives. For instance, antioxidants help protect the lubricant and hence prolong its lifetime and improve the fuel efficiency of, and hence reduce the CO2 emissions from, the engine. Recent projects have examined the fundamental chemistry of antioxidants and lubricant degradation at high temperatures, as well as the effects of the chemical environment that the lubricant experiences in an engine, eg the effects of nitric oxides formed during fuel combustion, and of conventional and bio-derived fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, on lubricant behaviour.

Renewable Alternatives for Fuel & Lubricant Additives

We are also investigating renewable alternatives to additives used in automotive fuels and lubricants that are currently derived from crude oil. For instance, there are natural sources of phenolic species that can be highly effective as antioxidants; we are examining the extraction of these species and their modification to form commercially usable products.

Safety in Chemistry

I am also the safety officer for the Department of Chemistry of the University of York, and am interested in improving, for instance, fire awareness and extinguisher training and raising awareness of explosive risks in university chemistry labs.

Selected Publications

  • Autoxidation of Branched Alkanes in the Liquid Phase , M. S. Stark, J. J. Wilkinson, J. R. Lindsay Smith, A. Alfadhl, B. A. Pochopien, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 2011, 50, 817–823
  • Influence of Fuel Properties on Lubricant Oxidative Stability: Part 2 – Chemical Kinetics Modelling , R. F. Cracknell, M. S. Stark, SAE Technical paper, 2007, 2007-01-003
  • Mechanistic Study of the Liquid Phase Autoxidation of Nonan-5-one
    C J Hammond, J R Lindsay Smith, E Nagatomi, M S Stark and D J Waddington, New J Chem, 2006, 30, 741-750.
  • Measurement of Lubricant Flow in a Gasoline Engine
    M S Stark, R J Gamble, C J Hammond, H M Gillespie, J R Lindsay Smith, E Nagatomi, M Priest, C M Taylor, R I Taylor, D J Waddington, Tribology Lett, 2005, 19, 163-168.
  • The Degradation of Lubricants in Gasoline Engines: Lubricant Flow and Degradation in the Piston Assembly
    M S Stark, J J Wilkinson, P M Lee, J R Lindsay Smith, M Priest, R I Taylor and S Chung, Life Cycle Tribology, Proc. 31st Leeds-Lyon Symposium on Tribology, Leeds 2004, Tribology and Interface Engineering Series, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2005, 779-786.
  • The Degradation of Lubricants in Gasoline Engines: Development of a Test Procedure to Evaluate Engine Oil Degradation and its Consequences for Rheology
    P M Lee, M S Stark, J J Wilkinson, M Priest, J R Lindsay Smith, R I Taylor and S Chung, Life Cycle Tribology, Proc. 31st Leeds-Lyon Symposium on Tribology, Leeds 2004, Tribology and Interface Engineering Series, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2005, 779-786.
  • Addition of Peroxyl Radicals to Alkenes and the Reaction of Oxygen with Alkyl Radicals
    M S Stark, J Am Chem Soc, 2000, 122, 4162-4170.