Author: Maria Lusardi

Why You Can’t Skip Preventative Maintenance with Condition Based Monitering

How long has it been since you serviced your lube oil system?

With todays technology for oil analysis we have gone to a conditioned based response. Condition based is great for monitoring current condition of lubrication in the system but many times at the cost of preventative maintenance of the lube oil reservoir and filters. As a service provider it is not uncommon for us to hear that the reservoir has not been cleaned for 10 years and the filters are great…been running on the same filter for the last 3 years.

Meanwhile, contaminates, varnish and water are dropping out and building up in your reservoirs and system low-points. Condition based monitoring does not provide accurate measurement of these dangers threats to your critical parts and system internals, especially because when they congregate in reservoirs ISO counts in flowing fluid may appear to be low. That is, until the day they are suddenly sky high!

Even with a condition based program, filtration and reservoir cleaning should be on your preventative maintenance list to extend the life of the increasingly costly hydraulic fluids and protect the life of your equipment.

RIG can help you with a custom built embedded lubrication program.

From oil analysis, contamination control, oil reclamation, breathers and filters RIG is here to help.

Contact the Reliable Industrial Group team at 1-800-770-4510 for more information or email [email protected] 

What filter do you need?

Generally speaking, there are 3 types of filters for solid and soft contamination. Each application is dependent on the efficiency and performance needed.

  • Synthetic Microglass filters have smaller pore sizes with a higher efficiency ratio than most other filters.
  • Synthetic media is less sensitive to moisture than cellulose or blown media and has a higher dirt holding capacity than other filters.
    • Baldwin has a study that shows contamination that plugs 50% of cellulose filters will only plug 10% of synthetic media allowing for higher flow rates.
  • Cellulose media is constructed of wood pulp and is a very economical means of filtration. We find that cellulose is less efficient than microglass but is very helpful when there is little water contamination in a reservoir that it would not be economical to run a fluid conditioner on.
  • Melt Blown Filtration—Only used in fuel filtration applications and has very good water separation characteristics.

This does not mean that if you have water contamination, you must select a cellulose media. There are many vendors out there that will impregnate a microglass filter with water absorbing media in order to handle the task at hand. It is very important to pull data based on lubricant analysis in order to acquire the most economical filtration Cart for your applications.

Selection a Filter

Selecting the right filter and doing a proper setup is a specialty area of RIG’s. We can walk you through the process and ensure both critical equipment safety and minimal downtime during setup and breakdown. Some general considerations:

  • Fluid characteristics
    • Lubricant Viscosity—High viscosity lubricants should not be pumped through fine filtration at high speeds due to air entrainment which results in cavitation and machine wear.
    • Lubricant OEM—Some lubricant manufacturers have heavier additive packages than others. Lubricants with high defoamant additives should not be filtered with sub-micron filtration.
    • Synthetic or Mineral Oil—Filter seal application is dependent on temperature, fluid type, and application.
    • Type of Fluid—Initial determination of filtration media will be taken into account dependent on the amount of water in the lubricant or if it is a water/oil invert lubricant.
  • Micron level rating — how fine a particle filters can catch
    • ISO Standard 4406:1999, which covers hydraulic fluid contaminants, requires filtration of solid particles as small as four microns in the oil
    • For context, a micron (μm) is one-thousandth of a millimeter — 0.00004. Traditional filtration can only remove particles to about 1 μm. And the smallest particle visible to the human eye is 25 μm; a human hair is about 100 μm wide.
  • Rating: absolute vs. nominal
    • Absolute — remove 98%+ of contaminants in one pass
    • Nominal — remove 50% – 97% of contaminants in one pass (varies by manufacturer)
  • Ability to withstand various process conditions — check manufacturer recommendations for the following to ensure proper filter operation:
    • Temperature
    • Pressure
    • Flow rate

Example

If a 10-micron filter has 1,000,000 particles upstream and 1,000 particles pass through its media, the Beta Ratio would be calculated as 1,000,000/1,000 – B1000. In addition, Beta Ratios can be expressed as an efficiency percentage-efficiency % – (Beta minus 1) / Beta * 100. The Beta 1000 element is 99.9% effective. See the efficiency chart below for more examples.

Protecting Your Workforce and Machinery During COVID-19 Uncertainty

As North America comes out of isolation, plant managers, maintenance teams, and individual employees will assess the risk and impact of COVID-19. Some common concerns include:

  • How do we assure our people are not going to pass along the virus and start a second wave?
  • What machinery issues can arise with forced downtime, delayed maintenance, and system re-starts?
  • How can we save costs with the Covid-19 financial impact?

At Reliable Industrial Group, we are ready to assist plants who need to protect both their workforce and machinery.  Whether you are restarting systems, increasing or changing production, pushing out pre-commissioning activities, delaying scheduled maintenance, or looking for cost saving programs our team of certified plant technicians can be on-site within 48 hours anywhere in the U.S.

To protect your employees from COVID-19, we offer Coronavirus Cleaning Services that disinfect high traffic, high touch areas such as control rooms, bathrooms, common areas and more. Thorough disinfection and virus spread prevention can be done between shifts, daily or weekly to give your staff confidence that they are not endangering loved ones as they come home from their workplace.

Many plants were forced to quickly pivot, shutdown or change production with skeleton crews to help prevent the spread of Covid-19. In many cases, this meant there was no time for thorough shut down or foreign material exclusion processes to take place, which can place machinery at risk long-term.

RIG’s trained personnel are ready to help keep you up and running. Whether you are increasing production at tissue plants, restarting, re-tooling, or looking for long-term cost savings, our team of certified plant reliability technicians can help.  We offer:

In addition, some of our service programs are designed to save you both time and money which may help during these uncertain times. Our “Best-In-Class” Lubrication Programs lower long-term costs by creating a custom lubrication and maintenance program that ensure machines are always operating at OEM recommended ISO levels, recycling or reconditioning oil to lower the cost of purchasing new oil, and providing embedded technicians when appropriate.

Our partnership with ExxonMobil Lubricants as the MobilServ℠ Integrated Lubrication Services Program Provider allow us to work with your team’s lubrication needs from cradle to grave for each piece of machinery. For help coming back on-line or additional information on any of programs email: [email protected] or call 800-770-4510.

We stand with those who make the world work!

Protecting Your Workforce and Machinery During COVID-19 Uncertainty

As North America comes out of isolation, plant managers, maintenance teams, and individual employees will assess the risk and impact of COVID-19. Some common concerns include:

  • How do we assure our people are not going to pass along the virus and start a second wave?
  • What machinery issues can arise with forced downtime, delayed maintenance, and system re-starts?
  • How can we save costs with the Covid-19 financial impact?

At Reliable Industrial Group, we are ready to assist plants who need to protect both their workforce and machinery.  Whether you are restarting systems, increasing or changing production, pushing out pre-commissioning activities, delaying scheduled maintenance, or looking for cost saving programs our team of certified plant technicians can be on-site within 48 hours anywhere in the U.S.

To protect your employees from COVID-19, we offer Coronavirus Cleaning Services that disinfect high traffic, high touch areas such as control rooms, bathrooms, common areas and more. Thorough disinfection and virus spread prevention can be done between shifts, daily or weekly to give your staff confidence that they are not endangering loved ones as they come home from their workplace.

Many plants were forced to quickly pivot, shutdown or change production with skeleton crews to help prevent the spread of Covid-19. In many cases, this meant there was no time for thorough shut down or foreign material exclusion processes to take place, which can place machinery at risk long-term.

RIG’s trained personnel are ready to help keep you up and running. Whether you are bringing peak-power plants online to meet increased consumption demands, restarting, or looking for long-term cost savings, our team of certified plant reliability technicians can help.  We offer:

In addition, some of our service programs are designed to save you both time and money which may help during these uncertain times. Our “Best-In-Class” Lubrication Programs lower long-term costs by creating a custom lubrication and maintenance program that ensure machines are always operating at OEM recommended ISO levels, recycling or reconditioning oil to lower the cost of purchasing new oil, and providing embedded technicians when appropriate.

Our partnership with ExxonMobil Lubricants as the MobilServ℠ Integrated Lubrication Services Program Provider allow us to work with your team’s lubrication needs from cradle to grave for each piece of machinery. For help coming back on-line or additional information on any of programs email: [email protected] or call 800-770-4510.

We stand with those who make the world work!

Protecting Your Workforce and Machinery During COVID-19 Uncertainty

As North America comes out of isolation, plant managers, maintenance teams, and individual employees will assess the risk and impact of COVID-19. Some common concerns include:

  • How do we assure our people are not going to pass along the virus and start a second wave?
  • What machinery issues can arise with forced downtime, delayed maintenance, and system re-starts?
  • How can we save costs with the Covid-19 financial impact?

At Reliable Industrial Group, we are ready to assist plants who need to protect both their workforce and machinery.  Whether you are restarting systems, increasing or changing production, pushing out pre-commissioning activities, delaying scheduled maintenance, or looking for cost saving programs our team of certified plant technicians can be on-site within 48 hours anywhere in the U.S.

To protect your employees from COVID-19, we offer Coronavirus Cleaning Services that disinfect high traffic, high touch areas such as control rooms, bathrooms, common areas and more. Thorough disinfection and virus spread prevention can be done between shifts, daily or weekly to give your staff confidence that they are not endangering loved ones as they come home from their workplace.

Many plants were forced to quickly pivot, shutdown or change production with skeleton crews to help prevent the spread of Covid-19. In many cases, this meant there was no time for thorough shut down or foreign material exclusion processes to take place, which can place machinery at risk long-term.

RIG’s trained personnel are ready to help keep you up and running. Whether you are restarting, re-tooling, or looking for long-term cost savings, our team of certified plant reliability technicians can help, especially with hydraulic equipment.  We offer:

In addition, some of our service programs are designed to save you both time and money which may help during these uncertain times. Our “Best-In-Class” Lubrication Programs lower long-term costs by creating a custom lubrication and maintenance program that ensure machines are always operating at OEM recommended ISO levels, recycling or reconditioning oil to lower the cost of purchasing new oil, and providing embedded technicians when appropriate.

Our partnership with ExxonMobil Lubricants as the MobilServ℠ Integrated Lubrication Services Program Provider allow us to work with your team’s lubrication needs from cradle to grave for each piece of machinery. For help coming back on-line or additional information on any of programs email: [email protected] or call 800-770-4510.

We stand with those who make the world work!

top turnaround consulting firms

Power Plant Saves $5 Million with Preventative Maintenance

A peak power plant experienced multiple unit trips and fails-to-start. These were caused by electrohydraulic control (EHC) servo valve failure. The valves were being affected by several contaminants including water, acid, particulate, gels and dissolved metals, coupled with low resistivity.

Keeping fluids clear of contaminants is crucial to the operational readiness of power plants. Fail-to-start or unit trip can cause unexpected outages, which hinders productivity, leads to fines and loss of profit.

Using offline acid remediation and particulate filtration skid with a dehydrator, contaminates were removed from the reservoir. A desiccant breather was also added to the reservoir, and filter elements upgraded to high-efficiency micro-glass.

This Total Systems Cleanliness approach yielded impressive results. It took less than four months for the contaminants and resistivity to return to normal ranges. This approach led to zero fail-to-starts and trips, an additional 26 years of expected fluid life, and saved the company over $5 Million. You can read the original case study here.

At Reliable Industrial Group, we approach each project individually and work with you to find the best, most efficient and cost effective solution that meets your needs. Understanding those needs is crucial in targeting the problem and formulating the appropriate plan of attack.

ExxonMobil Expands Mobil Serv℠ Program with Reliable Industrial Group

  • Mobil Serv has expanded its integrated lubrication services program to be an end-to-end solution for all plant commissioning, reliability and integrated service needs
  • ExxonMobil and Reliable Industrial Group engineers will work with customers to deliver a full range of services including machine performance insights and on-site support

SPRING, Texas – ExxonMobil announced today it will expand its Mobil Serv℠ integrated lubrication services (ILS) program to provide a holistic maintenance solution for industrial operators in North America. Together with maintenance services provider Reliable Industrial Group (RIG), the Mobil Serv ILS program will be an industrial end-to-end solution for all plant commissioning, reliability and integrated service needs.

By utilizing RIG’s largest fleet of pre-commissioning and reliability service equipment in North America, the Mobil Serv | RIG team will be able to provide operators with end-to-end support for a range of services across a plant’s entire lifecycle, including vibration analysis and various flushing, oil-related preventative maintenance and pre-commissioning services. Most providers specialize in only one of these service categories.

Most importantly, this program goes beyond simple service execution. Through the Mobil Serv | RIG team’s lubrication and machine systems performance expertise – as well as services such as Mobil Serv Lubricant Analysis, energy efficiency testing and on-site inspections – operators will have better access to critical data and insights about their operations and can work with the team’s experts to build tailored lubrication strategies that help achieve their business ambitions. For larger operators, Mobil Serv | RIG will also be able to embed certified and well-trained technicians on-site at the customer’s location to help with daily program management and execution.

“In today’s increasingly complex operating environment, companies want partners who can be available on-demand and can serve all their needs,” said Matt Dinslage, ExxonMobil’s brand and strategy advisor for Mobil Serv in North America. “Our new relationship with RIG enhances our already strong field presence and ensures we can help customers build and execute maintenance solutions that help them achieve their productivity and sustainability ambitions.”

The enhanced Mobil Serv ILS program also includes training and consultative services to help operators navigate technology and workforce challenges related to the accelerating pace of technological change and the emergence of a new generation of workers.

The Mobil Serv | RIG team leverages decades of experience from around the world to help customers better interpret machine insights on their own. The team can also provide regular training to help younger generations of engineers learn quickly and help more experienced engineers take full advantage of today’s most advanced technologies.

“Cutting-edge manufacturing technologies – as exciting as they are – can’t help a business if its maintenance team doesn’t fully unlock its capabilities,” said Jason Bandy, president of RIG. “One of the most exciting outcomes of our relationship with the Mobil Serv team is that we will deliver insights and services to customers across the region while also working hand-in-hand with customers to train their teams to make some of these decisions themselves – helping improve the long-term success of their businesses.”

The enhanced Mobil Serv ILS program is available to industrial operators of all sizes across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

About Reliable Industrial Group

Reliable Industrial Group (RIG) (www.therigteam.com) has locations throughout the U.S. and Canada, with primary service operation in Houston, Texas, RIG performs technically advanced highly specialized industrial pre-commission cleaning, oil flushing, chemical cleaning, varnish mitigation, steam and air blows, hydrolazing and other emergency, pre and post operational decontamination services to guarantee system cleanliness on critical turbine, compressor and hydraulic systems in the US, Canada and Mexico. The company was founded in 1989 and is experiencing consistent growth by providing the market with technically trained operators and engineers. For more information please call 800-770-4510 or contact [email protected].

About ExxonMobil Fuels & Lubricants

ExxonMobil is one of the world’s largest suppliers and marketers of fuels, lubricants and specialties, including lubricant base stocks, waxes and asphalt. Tracing its lubricants history to the Vacuum Oil Company, formed in 1866 and acquired in 1879, ExxonMobil has been at the forefront of lubricant technology innovation for more than 150 years. Its breakthrough products have helped to power some of mankind’s greatest technological feats, including the first gasoline-powered automobile, the first electric generating system, the first powered flight and the first space shuttle launch, among others. Today, ExxonMobil continues to develop new lubrication solutions for tomorrow’s machinery, to help keep the world moving.

Learn More on Exxon's Mobil Serv Partner Page

How Set Your Target ISO Cleanliness Codes

ISO cleanliness codes help us understand the amounts and sizes of contaminating particles in fluids and set target goals when cleaning fluids. ISO codes quantify contamination levels per milliliter of fluid at three distinct particle sizes: 4µ, 6µ, , and 14µ.

When you are looking at an ISO code, you are looking at three measurements;

1. The volume of particles in the fluid that are 4µ in size and greater
2. The volume of particles 6µ and greater
3. And the volume of particles 14µ and greater.

Download Full ISO Cleanliness Guide

What is often the most confusing about ISO codes is that the ISO number is a code that corresponds to a range, and is not a volume measurement itself. The
chart below shows how ISO codes correspond to volume measurements.

The important thing to remember is that for every 1 point increase in ISO code, there is a DOUBLING of the contaminate volume range. So, if you go from a code 19 to a code 20, you jump from a contaminate range of 2,500-5,000 particles per milliliter (p/ml) to a range of 5,000-10,000 p/ml.

While every situation is different, we are often aiming for ISO code ranges that land somewhere between 12-17 for the first number, 10-14 on the second, and 8-13 for the third AFTER fluid reconditioning.

When we set goals for fluid reconditioning programs, we take several factors into consideration. Above is an example of a chart we might use to reference the following key factors and determine acceptable ISO codes and particle ranges. When using this chart, we are taking into account:

  • Your main objectives for the cleaning program (minimizing repairs, extending equipment life, meeting regulations, satisfying warranties, etc)
  • The most sensitive component coming into contact with the fluid, This component is the one we want to based the entire standard off of to make sure our fluid is optimized for that critical piece of equipment.
  • The type of fluid used (petroleum or non-petroleum based fluids).
  • The presence of additional factors, including:
  • How critical the most sensitive component is to safety or overall system reliability
  • Frequent cold starts
  • Excessive shock or vibration
  • Severe operating conditions

Use the list of parameters below to carefully consider operational and environmental conditions. Once complete, find your Recommended Cleanliness Level (RCL) by plotting weighted criteria on the chart on the next page.

Download Full ISO Cleanliness Guide
PetrolinkUSA.com

The Complete Field Guide to Lubricant Maintenance & Troubleshooting

The more contaminates floating around your fluids, the more wear and tear your systems and equipment take. To know  whether you are putting machines at risk, you have to know what contaminate levels are safe. Use this guide to learn how to:

  • Correctly identify, analyze and improve lube oil contamination problems
  • Interpret and set ISO code targets
  • Select the correct methods for sampling and analyzing fluids
  • Flushing best practices,
  • Use helpful conversion charts
  • And more
Download Full Guide

Varnish Removal

What Is Varnish?

Before we discuss how to remove varnish buildup, it is important to understand what it is and how it occurs. As oil is heated and cooled under normal operations, oxidation in lubricants and additives creates organic by-products. This results in the formation of soft, sticky, polar insoluble particles floating in the oil and a varnish buildup on metal surfaces.

Varnish is most often found in areas of low flow and cool temperatures (tanks and reservoirs) and hot surfaces where oxidation is accelerated. Varnish reduces lubricating oil quality and needs to be removed periodically.

How to Remove Varnish from Industrial Equipment

Varnish cannot be removed with mechanical filtration. Side stream or kidney loop filtration processes will need to be setup to treat and prevent varnish, but will not affect normal operations. Current varnish buildup may require chemical cleaning and system flush, but there are ways to prevent buildup from occurring in the first place.

There are three technologies that remove insoluble varnish precursors from oil:

  • Depth Media Filters – target insoluble varnish precursors by absorption. This is the least expensive option, but can have varied results depending on system operating parameters.
  • Balance Charge Agglomeration, or BCA, splits oil into two separate streams – one positive-charged stream and one negative-charge stream, then they are remixed where the positive and negative particles agglomerate into particles large enough to filter. To avoid agglomeration downstream, it is important to change the BCA filters at least every six months. This method is both effective and fast, but must be properly managed.
  • Electrostatic filtration is conducted by applying a positive or negative charge to attract varnish precursor particles. This method avoids the issue of BCA downstream agglomeration since no opposite charge is applied.

Additionally, there is a new technology available to target soluble varnish precursors.

Charge Bonding, or ICB, targets soluble varnish precursors and works quickly within a few days. One drawback is that because it targets polar oil components this method can also remove polar additives like rust inhibitors. Currently, this technology is mainly focused on gas turbines which have low water content.

Varnish deposits remain an issue. However, as these technologies continue to improve and new ones are developed, varnish removal processes will continue to become more effective. If you are looking for an experienced varnish removal partner or chemical cleaning services, please don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our certified technicians to discuss your project today.

References:

Brett, Caleb. “The Outsourcing Laboratory” www.intertek-cb.com, 2003.
Hetherington, Paul. “Round Table: Off-Site Labs, Industry Professionals Voice Their Opinions about Off-Site OIl Analysis” Machinery Lubrication. Machinery Lubrication, 1 January 2003. Web.
Clark, Randy. (May 1, 2003). Email Interview.

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