Tag Archives: characteristics

Industrial Oil Sales: Preserving the Oil’s Performance Characteristics

So, you have decided to sell industrial oil?  Let’s assume that you already have found a storage facility for the product.  One thing remains however, knowing what the consumer needs and how to provide that need.

Besides better terms of supply, lower price, and various discounts, the client is mostly interested in the quality of the product.  Industrial oil quality in our case.  The quality is a combination of many parameters and characteristics that must not fall below regulated specifications during storage, transportation and operation.

Let us look into the characteristics, which define the quality of industrial oil and are important for the client’s choice:

  • Viscosity.  This is the first thing to consider about oil.  It is very important for the use of the majority of industrial oils.  When friction parts are designed and calculated, the parameter taken into consideration is the dynamic viscosity of the oil.  This is a regulated parameter of all oil made from crude base stock.  Dynamic viscosity used be defined at between 50ºС/122ºF and 100ºС/212ºF. That has changed and now all measurements are made according to ISO 3448-75 (instead of measuring viscosity at 50ºС/122ºF, the reference temperature is now 40ºС/104ºF).  When choosing industrial oil, the buyer usually considers three critical viscosity values: optimal at working temperature, minimal at maximum working temperature and maximum at the lowest working temperature;
  • Pour Point. This parameter is defined by testing a sample of the oil.  The Pour Point is the lowest temperature that the oil will continue to flow.  This temperature does not entirely indicate the dynamics of the oil in operating conditions at low temperatures.  That is shown better by actual viscosity at a given temperature. To reduce the pour point of industrial oil, it is mixed with special additives. This parameter is meaningful to the buyer planning his storage operations, dispatch, and draining and for using the oil in low temperature environments;
  • Flashpoint. This is the temperature at which the vapor of the oil can form a flammable mixture with the air. It defines the relative fire hazard of the oil and shows the presence of volatile fractions within it.  It is measured in special open or closed type devices;
  • Ash content. This parameter indicates the amount of non-organic contaminants left after burning a sample of the industrial oil. It is expressed in percentage of weight.  If ash content of oil without additives is too high, it indicates insufficient purification.  In most cases, ash content of industrial oil is from 0.002% to 0.4%;
  • Content of particulate matter, solvents, water, water-soluble acids and bases. This indication is extremely important in controlling the oil quality after production as well as determination of its further usability.  Mobile oil purification units for treatment and regeneration of oil can significantly increase the service life of the oil and improve reliability of machinery;

In practice, GlobeCore products are used for the purification and regeneration of industrial oil.

  • Color.  The color is a visual indication of the purity of industrial oil.  It also allows the buyer to make a judgment on the oil’s origins.  Keep in mind that some additives can make the oil darker.  If the color of the oil changes during use however, this is an indirect indication of its oxidation and/or contamination;
  • Acid number. Knowing this important neutralization number allows the buyer to determine the oil’s purity as well as the stability in use and in storage.  Additives can increase the acidity of the oil, but can also increase the stability of oil for long term use and storage;
  • Sulfur content.  The amount of sulfur initially depends on the amount of sulfur in the crude base stock the oil was blended from and the degree of purification and refinement.  After purification of industrial oils made from sour crude, sulfur remains in the oil in organic compounds and under normal conditions does not cause corrosion of metals.  Sulfur may become aggressive in elevated temperatures.  The content of sulfuric compounds is higher in oil with additives. This is due to the fact that additives containing sulfur are mixed with industrial oil to increase their lubrication qualities.

Oil filtration

During operation, transformer oil accumulate contaminants, which can form various chemicals. These substances reduce the oil’s performance and are, of course, undesirable.

Operation of the transformer becomes unstable. To prevent this, transformer oil is filtered and purified. Some of the methods are discussed in more detail below.

The first stage of transformer oil purification is mechanical. This is a superficial treatment to remove particulate matter and water. The next step is deeper purification performed in vacuum with heating.

The first two stages are, in fact, preliminary. The main process involves various chemicals.

One of the methods is purification of oil with a 98% sulfuric acid solution.

In comparison to other chemical purification methods, the use of sulfuric acid has a significant drawback. Beside reacting with the contaminants, the acid also adversely influecnes the structure of the oil, making it somewhat unstable. Additional processes are required to resolve that problem.

The nature of selective purification is evident from the title. Speical solvents are introduced into the oil to remove specific impurities.

De-waxing is another widely accepted process. In this process, oil is treated with special solvents: acetone, toluene, bensol etc, to remove solid contaminants.

It should be noted that chemical methods influence oil’s stability, but extend the oil’s service life at the same time.

It should also be remembered that any purification process should end with finishing purification, closing the cycle of oil processing and filtration. This is usually done by contact method.

This means that the oil is mixed with special materials, usually clay or bleaching earth. The materials are then mixed and heated. Heating facilitates acviation of all sorbents in the clay.

These absorbents capture contaminants. Deep filtration separates oil from the clay. When selecting adsorbent, it is necessary to pay attention to the content of moisture. It should be suffucient to make production efficient and to make processed oil compliant with specifications.

The most interesting technology today involves the use of bleaching clays (Fuller’s earth). Globecore manufactures a range of CMM type units for filtration of various oils with the use of Fuller’s earth. The advantages of the design are the ability of multiple reactivation of the sorbent, mobility, simplicity of operation and high quality of the output product.

Downtime is significantly reduced by the ability to reactivate the sorbent without the need for frequent replacement, thus increasing process efficiency.

Fuller’s Earth From Clay; A Type of Ceramic Art

Clay; More than Just Art!

It has been a long time since man began to use clay for folk art and the creation of art objects.  All possible images that were originated in the minds of ancient people and continue to appear in modern enlightened minds, can be turned into reality and get their shape with the help of waxy clay.  But, imagination and centuries of experience teaches us to have a broader outlook of the world.  It is safe to say therefore, Clay is not just for art anymore!

At one time, clay was a material generally used only for crockery, amphorae and sculptures.  Today however, clay is quite widely used in cosmetology, medicine, household chemicals, industry and a whole host of other uses.

It is no longer a secret that the chemical composition of different elements, that originated from the Earth’s interior, has had different affects on their characteristics and abilities.  As for clay, its “recipe” is also quite different.  Thus, there are many different ways that clay can be used in our modern world.

Clay and Industrial Uses

Industrial enterprises in various fields are the main consumers of all inventions and innovations connected with chemical and technological transformations.  Clay has many components and one of them is known as “Fuller’s Earth.”  In the scientific community, it is known as an “adsorbent.”  This earthy material mainly consists of a clay mineral that is considered not too waxy.  Fuller’s Earth therefore, is used as an adsorbent material that filters and purifies by attracting and holding contaminates on its outer molecular structure.

The Fuller’s Earth adsorbent material got its name from the original application in which it was used for the removal of oil from textile materials.  Later, Fuller’s Earth became very popular for the filtration of vegetable and mineral oils.  Its versatility and flexibility gave the the Fuller’s Earth adsorbent material many advantages in the oil purification industry.

“Oil Regeneration” machines, that utilize the Fuller’s Earth adsorbent materials, have become the most efficient and cost effective machines for the recovery of waste industrial oils available in the industry today.

One “Fuller’s Earth” regeneration cycle fully restores the oil back to its original characteristics.  After the Fuller’s Earth has regenerated and restored the used oil back to like new condition, it can then be reactivated and ready to purify oil again and again.  Thus, these machines definitely can be classified as modern industrial “works of art.”  So, clay continues to serve man in both form and now function.

GlobeCore now offers Oil Regeneration equipment featuring the clay based Fuller’s Earth Adsorbent material that is the best and most cost effective oil purification method in the industry today.  The GlobeCore Process not only purifies and regenerates oil and hydraulic fluids utilizing Fuller’s Earth, it reuses the adsorbent materials based upon an automatic adsorbent reactivation system built in to the regeneration equipment.  The GlobeCore machines can continuously purify oil without having to change and dispose of the adsorbent materials.  This industry leading breakthrough makes the process of regenerating oil products clean, efficient, and most of all, very cost effective.  The Environment Loves the GlobeCore Process and you will too!  GlobeCore, using Clay for a cleaner environment.

Its time to get with the Process.  The GlobeCore Process!