African Petrochemicals Edition_16.2

FIXING LUBRICATION STORAGE CAN HELP AVOID 90% OF CONTAMINATION
According to research by Lubrication Engineers (LE), 90% of all lubrication contamination occurs before the lubricant is ever
applied. “Only 10% of lubrication contamination happens after the oil has been applied to the machinery, mainly thanks to human
error or cross-contamination within the machine itself,” says Callum Ford, National Marketing Manager at LE South Africa. “The
major contamination risk is actually created by poor lubrication management, especially storage and distribution.”
By focusing on improving these areas,
organisations can drastically reduce the risk
of lubricant contamination and spills, thus
protecting their equipment and ensuring
operational health and safety compliance.
“Traditionally, lubrication storage has not
been a priority for companies, but it should
be,” says Ford. “They might be buying the
ideal product for a plant, but if the lubricant
is contaminated before it’s even applied, it’s
a waste. Organisations need to move away
from haphazard lubrication storage and
dispensing to a systematic approach. This sort
of simple house-keeping is the foundation for
good asset reliability management.”
LE’s Xpel oil bulk storage containers have
been designed around optimising lubrication
management so that it is clean, organised,
safe, efficient and reliable. “Basically, the ideal
is to have a closed loop system,” says Ford.
“This minimises risk at every stage of the
lubrication management cycle, right from
taking delivery of a lubrication to storing it
and applying it. The more chance the oil has
to be exposed to the elements, the more
chance it has to be contaminated before it is
added to the machinery.”
LE offers Xpel bulk storage systems, which
are modular and thus customisable, and are
available in different sizes and configurations to
meet every requirement. They are colour-coded
for accurate lubricant identification and come
with either gravity-fed dispensers or pressured
dispensing capability. They meet best practice
guidelines and standards for fire safety and are
built for spill control and durability.
All LE Xpel bulk storage systems come
with top-mounted level gauges to allow for
easy and safe viewing of tank fill level, as
well as a retractable cable reel grounding kit
and system earth lugs to mitigate staticelectricity
build up. They are suitable for
storing machinery lubricating oils and glycolbased
coolants and come standard with 110V
single phase TEFC motors (although they can
be configured for other power supplies as
required).
LE also supplies smaller Xpel oil storage
containers, which are the next link in the
lubrication storage chain. “From the bulk
dispensers, lubricants are decanted into
specially designed containers, each of which
has a specific shape and adheres to the
same colour-coded system as the bulk units,
ensuring that the right lubricant is dispensed
for application. This means there’s no
problems with lubricant cross-contamination
from putting a product into a container that
has previously housed a different lubricant,
and that the entire process becomes
standardised. For example, you only decant
lubricant from the yellow bulk tank to the
yellow storage container, and applied it to
the yellow-labelled machine. If your colours
don’t match up – you have gone wrong
somewhere.”
The storage containers are also available with
a variety of nozzles, with or without a pump
and / or hose, as required.
“We’ve seen how putting a lubrication
storage process and system in place has
helped our clients to make their lubrication
management less messy and more effective,
and how this has ripple effects in terms
of needing to buy less lubricant, and
seeing better overall productivity and less
downtime,” says Ford. “By weeding out
lubricant contamination before it happens,
machinery lasts longer and lubrication
schedules are more accurate. We honestly
believe that a cradle-to-grave lubrication
management system is one of the most
effective upgrades a company can make.”
About
Lubrication Engineers (LE) South Africa
represents the LE brand in South Africa,
Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe
and Zambia. LE hold the rights to Southern
Africa on the LE brand, recognised
internationally as a specialist in lubrication.
Through LE Incorporated, they are a member
of a worldwide network of companies
spanning Europe, South America, Asia and
Africa, while LE Incorporated operates in the
USA and covers North America including
Canada, Mexico and the USA.
LE provides high performance, heavy-duty,
quality lubricants for virtually every industry
and application, as well as expert technical
back-up and support.
For more information, visit
www.lubricationengineers.co.za
Contact:
Callum Ford, National Marketing Manager, LE
Tel: 011 464 1735
email: callum@lubricationengineers.co.za
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