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Climate change Issues

26/05/2009 10:26:23 Hits:333

Martin Williamson of independent oil analysis and machinery lubrication training and consultancy firm KEW Engineering, looks at best practice lubrication management and its importance for effective environmental maintenance...

The Climate Change Levy and ISO 14001 environmental standard demonstrate the European Governments' serious approach to climate change and other environmental concerns. It is vital therefore, that industry begin to consider the value of best practice lubrication management as a means to reducing power demand and reducing their environmental impact.

The detrimental impact of lubricants on the environment is sometimes overlooked. Lubricants are consumed at an uncontrolled rate, they leak from systems and after use require disposal. It is a widely held misconception that environmental maintenance is expensive. Effective environmental maintenance programmes and practicing good lubrication management will reap significant cost and process benefits for an organisation. Typically these can include:

• Reductions of at least 80% in lubricant consumption

• Reductions of at least 50% in planned and unplanned downtime

• Life extension of at least two fold on capital plant

• An overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) rise to more than 90%

• More competitive pricing but with increased profits

• Reductions of 40% in maintenance budgets

• Overall reduction in cost of lubricant per litre

Steps towards best practice

Regularly documenting figures for total system sump capacity, annual lubricant consumption and leakage will help when planning the reduction of leakage problems and extending the useful life of lubricant.

Setting lubricant specifications requires expert input. Companies purchasing lubricants based on equipment manufacturer's specification should be aware this is derived as a baseline for an average user. Your site is unique so make sure standards are set according to your needs. It is you, not the equipment manufacturer, which pays the price of failure.

Taking responsibility on site for oil management and running an oil analysis programme will help to understand the root cause of problems and practice proactive maintenance.

Reducing lubricant disposal

Apart from obvious financial gain, using lubricants more effectively reduces demand on resources. Fuels and lubricants are derived from the same source and reducing the consumption of both is critical to achieving meaningful cost/process benefits. Lubricants, when exhausted, remain in liquid form and must be disposed of correctly or recycled. Severely exhausted lubricants are not necessarily suitable for reclamation; better management of the lubricants in service ensures that they remain fit for further use.

Management of leakage is another key area, especially outdoor or mobile plant. Consider a small drop of oil the size of a small coin leaking at the rate of one drop per minute, that is about two litres of oil lost per day. Multiply that by the number of affected systems across Europe and the end result is devastating, and expensive.

Taking responsibility

In conclusion, every company has the responsibility to manage its lubricants more effectively and to recognise the impact of lubrication on the environment.

The key to best practice and effective environmental maintenance is training your staff in a lubricant focussed proactive maintenance strategy and ensuring they have the right tools and enough time scheduled to do the job properly.

Many of the companies in Europe who have taken a lead on best practice lubrication management are using independent experts to audit sites and to establish a Lubricant Efficiency Index (LEI). The process produces valuable results which help establish an improved environmental maintenance strategy. Implementing changes and continually auditing the site ensures LEI improves year on year and the impact of the company's 'ecological footprint' is consistently reduced.

For more information about KEWEngineering, call them on +44 (0)1244 683331 or just Tell Us What You Want™.

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