General lubrication - MustonLube Specialty Lubricants

Running Hot

mustonadmin — Fri, 06 May 2022 20:56:14 +0000

How hot will my oil run?

It is so dependent on the application itself. Typically in the environment that we’re operating in, our lubricating oils are well below the temperature limits of the product itself. When you’re purely talking about temperature, you talk about a temperature that’s elevated enough that it starts cracking or breaking the molecule. It breaks it down into its carbon components. The temperature, however, also accelerates other chemical processes, particularly oxidation. When you get oil to a moderately high level, maybe 170°F (77°C), then you start having a dramatic effect on the life of the oil because you’re having a great impact on how fast oxidation occurs. If you didn’t have oxygen involved, you may be able to run the product up to 500-600°F (260-315°C) and not really see a degradation in the product itself for an extended period of time. An example of that is that we can take those same chemistries and put them in heat transfer systems for extended periods of time. Heat transfer systems run a lot hotter, around the 550-600° F (288-315°C) range, and they are typically blanketed with nitrogen so there is no exposure to air and no source of oxygen for oxidation. At that level, the systems are running 550-600° F (288-315°C) and can run for extended periods of time, sometimes even multiple years. You’re testing it every once in a while and you don’t see the negative effects that you would typically see when oil is breaking down with the acid number going up, sludge and things like that. You may see a few things indicating some thermal breakdown, but you won’t really see the oil itself breaking down in the manner that you’re used to seeing. Whereas, if you take that same chemistry and put it into an air compressor with a lot of exposure to air, at around 200°F (93°C) , the oxidation is sped up so much that it is difficult to make the oil last even a year. Even with the best synthetics, in that environment, it is a challenge to last 8,000 hours or one year running time without the oil breaking down or the acid number increasing and the formation of sludge.

So you can run it hotter, but it just won’t last as long?

Yes. So when we get the question – How high of a temperature can this oil run at? – then you have to start putting a time element to it. Yes it will run up to 250-300°F (120-150°C), there’s really not an upper limit, you just have to say how long will it run at that temperature before it starts oxidizing. Air compressors have a great deal of air running through so we have a good handle of about how long that is, maybe a year at an elevated temperature. In a hydraulic system, you have less exposure to air so you can run it at a higher temperature for a longer period of time, but there is going to be a limit there and it’s much more difficult to say how long that is. You can’t really say how high of a temperature at which the oil will operate without talking about how long will it run too, unless you’re talking purely a thermal breakdown and not just an acceleration of oxidation.

It sounds like if you’re going to run it hot, you definitely should get your oil analyzed, because once it starts going bad it gets bad quick.

That’s the key. There are a lot of environments in which we have a long history. We can say that we know in that type compressor or in that type gearbox at that temperature we know what the exposure to air is and we can give a good educated guess about how long it’s going to be suitable for operation. The only way to truly know is to do your oil analysis at your prescribed intervals and to watch the indicators that the oil is breaking down. The worst thing you can do is wait too long after the oil has shown some of these indicators before taking corrective action. It gets to the point where you have a much bigger job of cleaning out the equipment and cleaning up the deposit formation if you let it go too far.

A Q&A with Dan Myrick, Summit’s Chief Technology Officer
Transcribed from Tribology Talk Podcast: FAQ: Running Hot
Originally posted Summit Headlines.

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Why go Synthetic?

mustonadmin — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 13:58:38 +0000

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Unlike petroleum oils, which are complex mixtures of naturally occurring hydrocarbons, synthetic base fluids are man-made petrochemicals with performance-enhancing additives that have predictable and desirable properties. We have discovered how to rearrange molecules to develop unique lubricants for specific applications, giving synthetics significant advantages versus their petroleum-based competitors.

Benefits of Synthetics

Better for your machine
Extended oil life
Cost savings

While there are many great reasons to use synthetic lubricants over traditional petroleum-based products, considerable cost savings is at the top of the list.

Here are some of the economic benefits provided by synthetics:

1. Increased service life of the lubricant (typically four to eight times longer than petroleum products)

2. Less lubricant consumption due to lower volatility

3. Reduced deposit formation as a result of excellent thermal and oxidative stability

4. Increased wear protection resulting in longer machinery life and less frequent maintenance and repairs

5. Reduced energy consumption thanks to increased lubricating efficiency

6. Improved cold weather flow properties, eliminating the expense of heat tracing oil lines

7. Reduced fire hazard resulting in safer environments and possibly lower insurance premiums

8. Higher productivity, lower manufacturing costs and less downtime

9. Reduced costs for used oil disposal

Summit has been manufacturing premium synthetic lubricants for over 30 years. We have some of the best products in the market, and our service team and sales professionals provide unmatched support to make sure our customers are using the best possible lubricants for their specific applications. If you’d like more detailed information on the new, cost-effective synthetic lubricants for the 21^st century, please contact MUSTONLUBE . We are glad to help in any way.

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How the right lubricant can improve your facility’s energy efficiency

mustonadmin — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 20:57:31 +0000

Friction is the worst enemy of efficiency, as demonstrated by the 100 million terajoules needed worldwide annually to overcome it (1). However, improved-technology lubricating oil can significantly boost efficiency; most modern cars, for example, use very low viscosity engine oils while being much more efficient, powerful, and reliable than past models. As mineral oils have become replaced by synthetic types, specialty lubricants and meticulous monitoring can also benefit industrial applications - for example in the chemical industry, which is the largest user of both energy and fossil fuels.

Challenge for the chemical industry

The chemical industry, including petrochemicals, is a top greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter, contributing approximately 20 percent of the world’s GHG total². Accordingly, Klüber Lubrication has developed KlüberEnergy as a multi-step process to help customers in this sector to increase process efficiency and demonstrate operational energy savings. Steps include Energy Consulting, Energy Measurement, Energy Analysis and Reporting. Savings can be quantified according to ISO 50015 and IPMVP* to support energy management systems (e.g. ISO 50001).

We help our customers to fulfil continuous improvement requirements and meet external targets to become applicants for incentives programs. Compressors, gearboxes, heat transfer systems and exchangers are all considered as applications with energy-saving possibilities. The process results in clear, simple reporting of relevant values, including cost savings, CO₂ emissions, ROI, and energy consumption.

Compressors

Air, gas, and refrigeration compressors are found in many chemical processes, often operating under severe conditions. Poor lubricant choice can directly impact both compressor reliability and efficiency, possibly causing catastrophic failure. With gas compressors, the situation is particularly critical as compressor oils can react with process gases or attack downstream catalysts, causing production issues.

The use of mineral oils in industrial compressor applications is obsolete. Mineral oil is well-known for its poor viscosity vs temperature behavior and low resistance to oxidation. Mineral oil-based lubricants tend to quickly degrade in new technology and high-output compressors. The high operating temperature causes a drastic viscosity drop and premature wear by allowing metal-to-metal friction. Mineral oil degradation will most likely generate varnish and sludge, affecting equipment efficiency.

Klüber Lubrication has a full range of Summit compressor oils, whatever your compressor technology type. Customers suspecting poor efficiency in compressor applications can benefit from the KlüberMonitor oil condition analysis and KlüberEnergy programs to troubleshoot issues.

If varnish or sludge has built up in your screw-type compressor, you can clean it with Klüber Summit Varnasolv and then convert to a Klüber Summit compressor oil for efficiency gains of up to 5 percent.

Gear Boxes

Chemical industry gearboxes are found within reactor agitators, mixers, extruders, conveyors, grinding mills, centrifuges, cooling towers, bucket elevators, rotary driers/cooler and other rotating equipment. They are designed to transfer power from an electric motor to equipment in motion, and lubrication can directly influence their efficiency.

Polyglycols (PAG) based lubricants like our Syngear FG PG Series offer the best energy efficiency, longest service life and highest wear protection. In terms of performance, PAG based lubricants outperform all other synthetic base oils particularly in high-sliding applications such as worm and hypoid gears. Process improvement is possible since the lower coefficient of PAG oils reduces friction within the gearboxes resulting in lower operating temperature and reduced power loss.

Keep your equipment clean to maintain efficiency

Carbon deposits, sludge and varnish present the worst challenges to chemical industry efficiency. Many chemical enterprises still use mineral oils in most of their severe and heavy-duty applications. Pushing mineral oils to their performance and service life limits will most probably lead to varnish and carbon build-up in the entire equipment or circulation system. These sticky residues will cause higher energy consumption, stuck valves, overheating, clogged oil lines and filters, and increased downtime due to maintenance.

Klüber Summit Varnasolv is a concentrated conditioner fluid that acts like a detergent/dispersant to dissolve varnish and carbon deposits during operation in various equipment items, with no dismantling needed. It is miscible with mineral oils, synthetic hydrocarbons, ester oils and polyglycols. The product can also recondition and restore efficiency in oil heat transfer systems that have accumulated a hard deposit, known as fluid coking, on piping inner surfaces. If not eliminated, fluid coking can decrease system heat transfer coefficient, increase energy consumption and exhaust gas temperature, and even block pipelines, inducing fire and explosion hazard.

As many chemical enterprises juggle choices regarding carbon footprint and limited production capacity, they can either add new production lines and pay accordingly, or improve process efficiencies. Sometimes, customers decide to use the improved energy efficiency realized by our specialty lubricants to increase production rather than reduce energy demand.

Whatever your energy efficiency ambition or business objective, you are welcome to contact us for a free technical consultation. Our application knowledge combined with our specialty lubricants is the winning recipe to improve your process efficiency and reliability.

For more information about air compressor lubricants please contact MUSTONLUBE – OFFICIAL DISTRIBUTOR – NY -USA

Originally posted at: https://www.klueber.com/de/en/company/newsroom/news/how-the-right-lubricant-can-improve-your-facilitys-energy-efficiency/

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