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13 Oct

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When comparing multiple products these days, you might read about the different ways in which they might affect the environment. Many companies are even highlighting through their advertisements that their products are green or eco-friendly. Terms such as Vegan certified, biodegradability, Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants (EAL), or Environmentally Friendly Lubricants (EFL) might be used to describe a lubricant’s effect on the environment. When reading about terms like these, you might wonder; are they all referring to the same thing, or do they each have their own meaning? Plainly, they are distinct, and each term has a specific definition. To get a better perspective on the meaning of the above-mentioned terms, we will examine the standards that must be met for lubricants in regards to aquatic environments . Since extreme care must be taken when using lubricants over water.

Vegan Society Trademark Standards

 

 For a lubricant to be Vegan certified, there has to be no animal derivatives, no genetically modified organisms involved in the manufacturing process, and no animal testing on products or ingredients. Besides, the vegan materials are to be prepared separately away from their counterpart non vegan products for food producers.

Vessel General Permit

 

The Vessel General Permit (VGP) is a Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit that authorizes, on a nationwide basis, discharges incidental to the normal operation of non-military and non-recreational vessels greater than or equal to 79 feet in length. This permit covers 26 distinct types of discharges that could potentially pose a threat to the aquatic ecosystem. The VGP includes a set criterion that lubricants must meet to help reduce this threat. I don’t want to get too far into the weeds on this permit, but it does go into detail about describing the above-mentioned terms and how they relate to lubricants. 

Environmentally Acceptable lubricants & Environmentally Friendly lubricants

 

In the VGP, EALs are described as lubricants that have been shown to meet standards for biodegradability, toxicity, and bioaccumulation potential that minimize the adverse consequences they are likely to have on the aquatic environment compared to normal lubricants. While EFLs are often defined as lubricants that may be expected to have desirable environmental qualities, they have not been proven to meet these standards. In short, EALs are lubricants that have passed the test to establish that they meet certain defined requirements while EFLs are lubricants that might have some good environmental qualities but may or may not meet the standard. Now that we know the difference between EALs and EFLs, let’s examine some of the standards that must be met to qualify a lubricant as an EAL.

 


Biodegradability 
To lower the threat in an aquatic environment, the chemical compound the lubricant started out as must be able to be broken down. Biodegradability is the measure of this breakdown by microorganisms, and it plays a big part in EALs. There are two types of biodegradation: Primary and Ultimate. Primary biodegradation is breaking off a piece of the chemical compound’s make-up. When this happens, the chemical compound can no longer perform the function it was created to do. Ultimate biodegradation is the complete breakdown of a chemical compound into carbon dioxide, water, and mineral salts. Primary and Ultimate biodegradation together can be classified as the physical breakdown of the lubricant. The method in which the breakdown occurs is classified as Inherent biodegradation and is determined by the compound’s ability to break down in any number of biodegradability tests. In addition, a lubricant is said to be Readily biodegradable where a part of the compound is biodegradable within a specific time using a specific test method. To be classified as an EAL, a lubricant must contain a certain percentage of readily biodegradable material.

 

Due to the potential for harm to plants and wildlife in the water, an EAL must have low toxicity. There are a few distinct types of aquatic toxicity tests that can be performed, some are done to determine the lubricant’s toxicity to fish while others are used for plants. These tests range in length from 48 -96 hours Rather than a passing or failing grade, the results of the test are typically displayed as either high or low toxicity. If we were going to look at toxicity levels of different lubricating base oils from high to low it would be as follows; mineral oils, Polyalkylene Glycols (PAG), synthetic esters, and vegetable oils.


Bioaccumulation is the gradual accumulation of substances like a lubricant’s constituent chemicals in an organism. In EALs it is desirable to have an extremely low bioaccumulation potential, as this will enable the lubricant’s compounds to break down at a faster rate. Compounds like mineral oils that have a higher potential for bioaccumulation can cause more harm. Because they don’t readily break down, the compounds in these lubricants stack up over time and create a cumulative threat to the environment. Also, worth noting is that water solubility and bioaccumulation are inversely related; if the water solubility of a lubricant is high the rate of bioaccumulation will be low.

 

While the use of lubricants on vessels is unavoidable, the VGP helps reduce the negative effects that can be posed to the aquatic environment. By examining the chemical makeup of the allowable lubricants and identifying a set of standards that these lubricants must meet, their potential for harm has been lowered. The VGP was created to help govern vessels over water, but it also serves as a good reference point to learn more about EALs in general. 

 

 

18 Aug

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Productivity and extended uptime are key in today’s economy. Automatic lubrication systems have been designed to increase uptime of machines and vehicles. Next to that, automatic lubrication offers more advantages in terms of cost savings, durability, productivity and safety.



1- The Multi-point Challenge: Food and beverage manufacturing operations often have hundreds or even thousands of lubrication points in a single facility. Although automatic lubrication systems have been around for decades, much of this work is still conducted using manual labor, particularly when the lubricant is grease. While the food and beverage industry is moving toward higher-speed, higher-volume automated equipment, it is becoming increasingly impractical for the industry to depend on labor-intensive manual grease gun lubrication. ''Bearing giant SKF has estimated that 57 percent of all bearing failures are lubrication-related," explains Richard Hanley, president of Lubrication Scientifics. "That rate can be reduced dramatically by automating the lubrication process, which ensures that the right amount and type of lubrication are delivered to every equipment bearing point." Automated lubrication systems can be used in a wide variety of industries in addition to food processing, including the pulp and paper, chemical processing, steel, petrochemical and mining industries. From an economic point of view, the payback period for most of these systems is less than a year. In some cases, engineered lubrication systems with advanced monitoring capabilities can save millions of dollars in downtime costs per year. Automated lubrication systems eliminate the cost and sometimes hazardous task of manually applying controlled amounts of lubricant to multiple equipment locations at frequent time intervals while the equipment is operating. "More frequent delivery of smaller amounts of lubricant is particularly important to bearing points on high-speed equipment," Hanley says. "This prevents overheating the bearings due to excessive lubricant buildup and ensures longer operating life."


2- The harsh environments: Food-processing plants are exposed to some of the harshest environmental factors, including extreme room temperatures and mandatory caustic wash-down procedures. U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations require all processing lines and equipment be adequately sanitized as often as necessary. In the food-processing industry, corrosion problems are normally prevented through the use of equipment made of stainless steel. However, since a broad offering of stainless-steel metering valves has not been readily available, the only effective anti-corrosion solution for automatic lubrication system components has been to enclose the plated-carbon-steel metering valves into stainless-steel enclosures.


3- System Types: automated lubrication systems can be beneficial for plants that need to supply precise lubricant amounts to many points, ensuring longer machine life, safe operation, reduced unscheduled downtime and more economical operating costs. Automatic lubrication systems come in many types, such as single-line parallel, series progressive, dual line and multi-line, each with its specific advantages and application areas. Because of this wide range, generally any application can be lubricated with an automatic lubrication system.

 

14 Jul

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Since there are different types of lubricants that a facility may use, it’s essential for plant and production managers to have an understanding of lubricant usages and the benefits of their implementation for their machines &products longevity and safety.

02 Sep

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One of the greatest opportunities our technical engineers have is the chance to walk through various plants around the country. They visited power plants, food-processing plants, refineries, manufacturing facilities and a long list of others.

During these trips and audits, they have discovered several recurring lubrication issues that seem to be widespread throughout the industry. The following is a list of the most common problems and how they should be resolved.

1. Lack of Procedures:

Great lubrication programs are only as good as the people who do the work. However, the retirement of technicians has been the problem of greatest concern.

As a lot of people are reaching retirement age and subsequently retiring, they are taking with them a great deal of personal experience and knowledge of how they do their jobs.

Documented procedures can lessen the blow and help new personnel understand the proper way a task should be performed.

You want to write a procedure not only for the application of lubricants (oil changes, re-greasing, etc.) but also for how lubricants are handled in storage, decontaminated upon arrival and even disposed of after use.

Procedures should be developed with best practices in mind. For example, new oil should be sampled upon delivery to confirm its properties and tested for contaminants. If necessary, the new oil should be decontaminated before being released for service or put into bulk storage containers. In other words, you must design procedures in a manner that enables the lubrication program to reach a world-class level.

2. Improper Sampling Points and Hardware:

If used correctly, oil analysis can be an extremely valuable tool. It allows you to monitor not only the health of the oil but also the health of the machine, as well as catch failures before they become catastrophic. In order to obtain all the benefits of oil analysis, you first must have the correct sample points and hardware.

All machines to be included in the oil analysis program should be evaluated for the proper sampling hardware. Splash-bathed components such as bearings and gearboxes can be equipped with minimized sampling valves with pilot tube extensions.

Circulating systems should be examined for the best possible sampling points as well. These systems typically require several points.

3. Over greasing

Most plants I visit do not recognize that grease guns are precision instruments. They also fail to see the problems that can be caused by the misuse of grease guns.

Just like many other people, I was taught to grease a bearing by simply attaching the grease gun and working the lever until grease was seen purging from somewhere.

While this may be effective for hinge pins and other applications where purging grease won’t cause damage, it shouldn’t be employed for all grease applications.

Over greasing is a very common problem and can result in higher operating temperatures, premature bearing failure and an increased risk of contaminant ingression.

Bearings require a set volume of grease to be properly lubricated. A popular formula used to determine the volume of grease needed is the outside diameter (in inches) multiplied by the width (in inches) multiplied by 0.114.

This will provide the volume of grease in ounces that the bearing requires. Make your life easier and use our handy calculator for determining bearing grease volume and frequency.

Once you have calculated the volume of grease for the bearing, you need to know how much grease the grease gun is dispelling per stroke. To do this, simply pump 10 shots of grease onto a plate and weigh it on a digital scale. Next, divide the weight of the grease by 10.

This will give you the amount per stroke of output. Remember, certain grease guns can produce pressures up to 15,000 psi and can cause numerous problems if not properly managed.

While calculating the re grease requirements for all bearings onsite and determining the output of grease guns are a great place to start, there are other concerns that must be addressed as well. For instance, the output of grease can vary between guns.

The best way to counteract this problem is to standardize with a single type of grease gun so the output will be similar for each one. Grease guns should also be dedicated to a single type of grease and checked at least once a year.

4. Lack of a Labeling System:

Labeling is a key part of any world-class lube program. Not only does it reduce the chance for cross-contamination by minimizing confusion as to which lubricants go where, it also allows individuals who may not be as familiar with the lube program to top-up with the correct oil or grease.

Of course, labels can be used for more than just identifying lubricants. On a recent project, the lube labels were barcoded to allow all assets in the plant to be integrated into the computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) for automatic work-order generation.

The best label design incorporates a color/shape scheme for each lubricant used. This offers a quick visual reference as to which lubricant is inside the machine.

ROCOL has developed the Lubricant Identification System (LIS), which includes all basic information for a machine type such as base oil, application and viscosity. As mentioned previously, once a labeling system has been established, the labels should be applied to all lubricant storage containers and application devices.

5. Use of OEM Breathers and Dust Caps:

Most original equipment manufacturer (OEM) accessories like breathers do little to restrict the ingression of tiny particles into oil and critical spaces, which can damage machine surfaces. Some of these breathers are simply a cap filled with steel wool or a mesh screen that serves as a block for larger particles.

Considering the lubricant film in a journal bearing is approximately 5 to 10 microns, any particles of this size contaminating the oil will greatly increase the likelihood of wear and subsequent machine failure.

These tolerance-sized particles do the greatest damage and have the highest probability of causing machine wear.

Not only do many OEM breathers allow particles into the oil, they also do nothing to restrict moisture from entering the oil. Oil is hygroscopic, which means it absorbs moisture from the ambient air. In areas with high humidity or steam, moisture will pass through these types of breathers and be absorbed into the oil, causing rust, increased oxidation and hydrolysis rates, and a higher corrosive potential of acids formed by oxidation and hydrolysis.

OEM breathers should be replaced with higher quality versions to restrict particulate and moisture ingression. With several breather manufacturers on the market, the key is to get the breather that is right for your particular environment and operating conditions. In very dry environments, a spin-on particulate filter may work fine provided that ambient humidity is low. In more moist environments, a hybrid-style breather may be the best choice.

This type of breather employs a particulate filter to trap hard particles followed by a desiccating phase to strip moisture from the incoming air. All of these breathers can be threaded into the current breather port for quick and easy installation.

28 Jul

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All gearboxes must receive periodic maintenance including an oil change. Oil should be checked regularly for contamination from dirt, debris, and other fluids such as water. The oil should also be changed periodically based on hours of operation and on oil temperature. Oil that operates at elevated temperatures (above 150° F) needs to be changed more often than oil that operates at 120° F. As the temperature increases up to 180° F, the oil change frequency increases significantly. Elevated temperatures accelerate the breakdown of the oil’s molecular structure thereby inhibiting its ability to form a protective film. If oil continuously operates above 200° F, a circulating lube oil system should be considered to cool the oil.


American Gear Manufacturers Association recommends that oil is supposed to be changed after the first 500 hours or 4 weeks of operation, whichever comes first. After the initial operation of the unit, AGMA recommends that oil 
is supposed to be changed every 2500 hours of operation or every 6 months, whichever comes first. AGMA further suggests that these intervals can be adjusted based on the gearbox system configuration as recommended by the manufacturer. Furthermore, having a condition monitoring program that identifies changes in the lubricant such as color, viscosity, oxidation, water concentration, contaminant concentration, percentage of sludge, and change in oil chemistry is important. There also a lot of additives that can be implemented to extend the lubricant change intervals.



In addition to oil, the physical condition of the gearbox including the foundation, protective coating, seals, breathers, circulating oil system, couplings, and bearings should be inspected periodically.  A problem with any of these items identified in the early stage by plant personnel can help avoid a catastrophic premature failure of the gearbox. A worn bearing may cause wear on gear teeth, but prolonged operation in this condition can lead to more severe conditions resulting in broken gear teeth which can feed to other gears in the train and cause damage to more components that might not have otherwise required replacement. An adverse condition may not be obvious to the operator but a periodic inspection of the gearing and any changes or acceleration in wear patterns indicate that something has changed and it should be investigated.


Condition monitoring programs evaluate changes in operating parameters and provide valuable quantitative data that can help forecast when failures might occur. These services can be performed by in-house personnel or contracted. Oil temperature, level, and condition, vibration, noise and physical condition of seals and breathers are some of the parameters that should be monitored. After an initial baseline evaluation of the system, periodic inspections, photographs, and data analysis are used to identify and evaluate any changes or trends that might signal a problem.

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