Synthetic gear oils for the vertical coal mill is a common trend and every time, more and more cement plants are making use of these type of products.
Since 1885, a chemical company with a long background history. We focus on lubricants (oils and greases), metal working fluids, coolants and car auxiliary products; all of these, meticulously developed in our state-of-the-art R&D centre located in Barcelona.
Our laboratories stand out thanks to having the best equipment for lubricant analysis but, the key point is, the people. Our outstanding technical engineer staff design tailor-made products for all industrial needs, this is possible thanks to their enriched experience and top tier technical knowledge which has been acquired with time and patience.
In order to obtain the highest lubricant performance, the most tough and challenging conditions to take into consideration are: high temperatures, high speeds and heavy loads. These three conditions will easily diminish the lubricant’s function. For example, at cement plants, the most common environment to which the equipment is exposed to is high temperature, heavy load, and abundant dust.
So, the main goal for the maintenance engineer is to find the way to confront these adverse factors and keep production smooth, offering the highest efficiency possible to the machinery. Having the guarantee that the maintenance is being done with an expert company in lubrication, which displays a full range of own-made lubricants is the main drive to success and, safety. Brugarolas S.A., as a 100 per cent original manufacturer, offers its customers the best solution to each single case based on their world-wide established experience.
As we know, nowadays, cement plants all try to push as much as possible their efficiency but, at the same time have the need to reduce costs though energy savings. From the past to now, the production levels have gone from 3000T/D to a boosted 12000 T/D, from using ball mill technology to roller press machines. So, if the equipment has upgraded, shouldn’t the lubricants improve too? Yes, obviously. Each machine has different needs, each need has different solution; according to the machine we will offer a specific lubricant.
When talking about rotary kilns; let’s visualise a new and modern rotary kiln with a diameter size from 4 m to 6 m, the open gear girth will have dimensions from 800 to 1,200 mm, it will have a double gear driving, and the power of the driving motor will be from 670 KW to 1,500 KW, so, the surface gear pressure is for sure going to be much higher than older models (smaller dimension, one gear drive, less power). Pitting, micro-pitting and metal fatigue, all these, are negative outcomes from using old technology open gear lubricants and/or applying them incorrectly. Our job and aim is to offer and transmit the correct information to avoid undesirable effects by using or applying incorrectly lubricants. Selecting the suitable open gear lubricant (neat oil type or fluidy grease+solid additives type) and the suitable lubricant method will allow us to obtain the best protection.
Another example that reflects our expertise and industry-focused range of products: our BESLUX GRAFOL 320. It is the most ideal product to use for the lubrication of the support tire of rotary kilns. This top sold product minimises the friction between supporting parts and the kiln’s tire and, at the same time, offers a dry lubricant film which can stand temperatures of up to 6000C. BESLUX GRAFOL 320 needs to be applied by spraying system between tire and kiln shell. As a correct reference, the gap between the tire and kiln is 10 to 30 mm. Each tire needs to re-lubricated once a week with an average dose of two to three litres, like this, we will be able to obtain the best performance with the guarantee that the equipment is fully protected and will keep in good conditioning.
Not using the correct protection can lead to big and undesired incidents. One of the 3000T/D cement plants, did not use this product on their tire as they insisted on making saving by not using any lubricant. We explained about how the damage can gradually occur and the risk they were taking, but the customer, only orientated on reducing costs did not accept using it. At that time, no problem ever occurred but, when this factory upgraded their production to 6000T/D and also upgraded to a bigger tire, they still believed they did not need to protect this point. After a few months of operation, the rotary kiln started to vibrate heavily and the anti-fire bricks dropped, this caused the factory to stop production and they had to check and inspect all points. They found severe tire wear which destabilized the kiln and lead to rotary problem. After this they started to apply the tire protection lubricant to ensure the kiln turning smoothly.
Nowadays cement factory lubrication is not that simple. It is not only a matter of selling lubricant to the factory, nor simply referring to the OEM indication and supply the product mentioned, it demands more than that. A well prepared technical service team along with the maintenance department of the plant, and taking into account the OEM’s recommendation will have to cooperate together in order to achieve installing a correct lubrication plan that will ensure the safe and good performance of the equipment. Our technical service team has full knowledge on open gear inspection and possess the needed onsite experience, which will not only help to solve any lubricant problem but also be able to give maintenance predictions and guidance. We are very proud of this and are able to offer an international service to all plants in all locations around the globe. Through modern equipment checking, we are able to reveal the real state of the open gear surface and its current conditioning.
Grinding processes have improved. By swapping from common ball mills to roller presses, cement plants have been able to obtain higher production efficiency, but, not all these cement plants have updated their lubricants. The diameter of a roller bearing can nowadays be up to 120 cm, this is a significant size that demands a higher performing grease than a general lithium moly grease, if we continue applying this lithium moly greases we will reduce the life of the bearing drastically. Only by using the suitable grease we can extend the bearing life. We are a lubricant expert on this type machine and, can prove it with OEM approvals and at the same time are proud to say that we have more than 500 units running with our high performance grease. Synthetic gear oils for the vertical coal mill is a common trend and every time, more and more cement plants are making use of these type of products. Although the cost of these may initially frighten, when taking into account the very significant reduction on maintenance costs that these will offer, they end-up being a great option. Moreover, they are much more environmental friendly when compared to common mineral gear oils.
For example, when using a mineral gear oil, it needs to be changed once per one year while, when using a synthetic gear oil it can easily be changed once every four years (always taking into account the oil condition, quality of base oil, the coal dust pollute, etc). We can therefore get substantial saving by avoiding to: stop the mill four times, four times more of waste gear oil, and four times more of maintenance cost. There is a saying that goes as so "you need to put the right person at right place", this can also be applied to lubricants. Our technical service team will always offer the best suggestion and instruct you on the most suitable lubricant for each case. We as, Brugarolas India Pvt, will have a technical service team part of Brugarolas S.A and, according to the condition of your country cement plants’ will be able to provide the most suitable products.
We will provide the "Factory Health Survey" to all India cement plants and, according to our visual and detailed inspection report, the plant maintenance staff will be able to know the real condition of their key equipment. Last but not least, after having checked exhaustively the machinery, will be able to provide the "Prediction Maintenance", here, you will find the new steps to keep the lubrication correctly and never have problems again.
About the author Tony Liu, Asia Manager, Brugarolas