No need to dispose of Lubrication Fluids

31 Aug 11

New Australian technology is allowing companies from a wide range of industries to re-use their lubrication fluids over and over rather than drain them out, thus adding many tens of thousands of dollars in profit to their bottom lines.

"It is a myth that your fluid has to be changed. Most lubricants don't wear out but become unstable when contaminated by dirt and moisture and when additives are consumed. With Excel Fluidcare Technology it is possible to operate equipment for years on the same tank of fluid", says Kevin McCaffrey, Managing Director of Sydney based Excel Hydraulics.

The 24 year old company has launched a unique mobile service called Excel Fluidcare Technology. Just like an x-ray, the company's FLUID-X Diagnostics exposes the real quality of fluid using laser particle counters. Contaminants as small as 4 microns can be identified and the Excel Fluidcare Technology filtering process then removes particles as microscopic as the size of blood cells.

Veolia:

“We have seen a dramatic saving of $60,000 to $80,000 in new fluid and looking ahead we expect a similar saving in the third year because we won’t have to refill the tanks", says Craig Doorey, Facility Manager at the Veolia Environmental Services Clyde Transfer Terminal. The terminal processes 9200 tonnes of waste materials very week from across Sydney.

“We operate channel balers which have hydraulic rams and they run 24/7 and 365 days a year. We cannot afford for them to break down. Each baler has a holding tank with 4500 litres of hydraulic fluid and historically we would empty these out each year. The problem was that about a quarter of the fluid remained inside the machinery so we weren’t able to remove all of it, and the cost to refill the tanks amounted to more than $30,000."

Craig says Excel Hydraulics came out to the site and, whilst the compactors continued to operate, they were able to test the fluid, filter it, and then run another series of tests to confirm that the contaminants had been removed. He adds that the “no down time” feature of this operation was a big advantage.

Transpacific:

“I would recommend Excel Hydraulics and their Fluid Care Technology to anyone”, states Ilche Grasevski from the Transpacific Liquid Waste Plant located at Sydney’s Olympic Park, “They are saving us a lot of money by not having to replace our oil.”

Transpacific is a large corporation which specialises in collecting and processing general-liquid-hazardous-industrial waste materials, waste water management, recycling and many other services across a broad range of industries from construction to defence to hospitality. The site utilises Excel Fluidcare Technology to maintain the quality of highly specialised thermal oils which are a vital part of their liquid waste processing.

“The thermal oils are designed to work at very high temperatures and in the heat exchange process they can get mixed up with water. We bleed the oil off into two 2500 litre tanks and this is where Excel Hydraulics is able to remove the water and any other contaminants."

“Kevin is able to give me documentation on the spot which confirms the effectiveness of the filtration. I can see how much contamination there is in the oil before and the fact that it is all removed after. Apart from the filtration results I also recommend Excel Hydraulics because of their professionalism. We have a thorough site induction process and other contractors find it inconvenient, but Kevin is very understanding and very involved. He has a good awareness of OH&S issues and is very professional when it comes to completing the documentation.”

Hycast Metals:

“Excel Fluidcare Technology has already paid for itself”, says Production Manager Thomas Petrovich from Hycast Metals, the largest producer of investment castings in Australia. They operate injection moulding machines which work all day making wax sacrificial moulds for a wide range of products.

“The machines have about 800 litres of hydraulic fluid between them so, as you can imagine, replacing the fluid is a costly exercise. And it requires us to take the machines offline. If one of these machines went down it would be catastrophic. The replacement parts are in Germany.”

Excel Hydraulics conducted oil diagnostics and found high levels of contaminants.

“What this showed me is that new fluid is not clean. Our used fluid is cleaner than new", says Thomas, "We have saved money by not having to buy replacement parts and by dramatically reducing the amount of fluid we throw away. I have complete peace of mind in my equipment.”

"This technology is totally transportable", adds Kevin McCaffrey, "I can take it to any site to maximise the reliability and life expectancy of hydraulic and lubrication equipment, and to dramatically reduce operational costs."

"International testing proves that drums and containers are not free of damaging contaminants. At the same time when you drain fluid there is always a quantity left behind clinging to parts and hoses and in the reservoir tank."

Article by Craig Hingston of YOUR IMAGE MARKETING & MEDIA

www.yourimagemm.com.au