Industrial lubricants and
greases play a key part
in keeping plant and
machinery in good
working order. Sandra
Calic, global direct
sector marketing
manager for general
manufacturing at Shell,
looks at best practice in
plant lubrication and
explains the science
behind the latest
‘synthetic’ lubricants

Plant engineers are under more
pressure than ever to ensure capital
equipment is kept in optimum
working condition for a productive and
cost-effective operation. Much of the time,
lubricants are an afterthought – understood
as a necessary part of day-to-day working,
but not always seen as a vital component:
Ensuring correct lubrication use can help
generate cost savings by minimising
downtime and enhancing machinery
protection, particularly in environments
where optimum productivity is critical for
delivering against peaks in demand.

The role of a lubricating oil is to provide
the optimum protection to the equipment
and other moving parts. This involves
reducing friction and protecting against
acids, deposits, and wear throughout a range
of operating conditions. By opting for
lubricants that offer enhanced levels of
protection and mitigate other operating
factors such as fluctuations in temperature,
plant engineers can help ensure that their
machines are not only working to optimal
service levels, but that they are safeguarded
against premature wear and tear, and
unnecessary maintenance downtime.

Synthetic technology
Today, in many situations, synthetic
lubricants can be the highest performing
lubricants and are based on man-made
technologies that offer a range of benefits –
enhanced protection, and thus greater
durability of equipment, and longer oil life
through reduced deposits and oxidation,
which help contribute to improvements in
efficiency, downtime and maintenance costs.

Alongside this, they can be manipulated to
maintain protection in harsh environments,
such as where machinery experiences
dramatic temperature fluctuations, or may
be submerged in water.

Synthetic lubricants start with ‘high grade’
synthetic base oils. Traditionally, lubricants
have been based on mineral oil, a
component of whole crude oil. Thanks to
modern refining technology, today’s highquality
mineral oils provide adequate
protection. However mineral base oils are
complex mixtures of naturally occurring
hydrocarbons and may contain impurities.

On the other hand, synthetic base oils have
been chemically altered to reduce impurities
and are engineered – using specialist
additives – for excellent low-temperature
flow properties, high resistance to thermal
degradation and low oil consumption.

Depending on the product, additives can
account for 1 to 30% of the lubricant and
achieving the right blend is what sets a
quality lubricant apart from its competitors.

Synthetic lubricants have been proven to
deliver extended life cycles without
impacting upon quality or performance; in
some cases lasting up to two or three times
longer than they did a decade ago. This
means that engineers do not have to
contend with replenishing oil levels as
frequently, reducing costs and time spent on
upkeep.

Lubricant selection
Recognising the importance of correct
lubrication choice and application is one
thing but many companies lack the time
needed to keep up with the latest products
and technologies. There is help available,
and engineers or those who purchase,
should take advantage of the expertise
available from their supplier. For example,
Shell LubeMatch is an online service which
helps to identify appropriate lubricants for
each individual operation. Services such as
Shell LubeAdvisor work alongside online
tools providing help through highly-trained
staff.

Application
In operational environments the use of
synthetic lubricants, compared to nonsynthetics,
has demonstrated cost and time
savings for many plant and manufacturing
operations. Reported savings, from extensive
field trials, as well as directly from
customers, reinforce the benefits to be had
from using synthetic lubricants. For
example, a plastics plant in Turkey, Wavin
Pilsa, which was dissatisfied with the poor
performance of its compressor lubricant,
used Shell support services to help identify a
suitable oil for its operation. Oil sample
analysis indicated the oil it was using had
poor thermal and oxidation stability, which
resulted in the need for an oil drain every
5000h. As a consequence, operating and
maintenance costs were higher than they
needed to be.

The Shell Lubricants technical team
recommended a change to Shell Corena S4
R 68, an advanced synthetic air compressor
oil incorporating a high performance
additive system. The product is designed to
deliver high performance lubrication of
rotary sliding vane and screw air
compressors. It uses an advanced additive
system to provide enhanced protection and
performance for compressors running at
pressures over 25 bar and in excess of 100°C
discharge temperature with oil maintenance
intervals to 12,000h.

The switch reduced costs by 50% and
increased the oil-drain intervals from 5000
to 10,000h. The company reports saving
US$12,185 a year, resulting from lower oil
consumption and labour costs, less oil waste
for disposal and improved maintenance.

Ongoing care
Lubricants are a relatively small part of total
operating expenditures, yet they can add
incredible value to the working life of a
plant, so ensuring they are monitored
regularly and stored adequately can lead to
further cost savings and efficiencies.

Lubricant servicing should be considered
a standard procedure in the ongoing care of
an oil and the machine components it is
protecting. Such checks can mean avoiding
unnecessary oil changes; the technology is
designed to identify potential oil or component
failures before they become critical, but
allows engineers to rest assured that until
that time, the oil will work to optimal levels.

For example, Shell LubeAnalyst is an oil
and equipment condition monitoring service
that involves taking samples direct from
working equipment. These are analysed and
tested in an accredited laboratory.

Test results are provided along with a
diagnosis and, if necessary, recommendations
for adapting oil use to resolve any problem
areas.