Platform for the food and beverage industry
Compressed air is an important energy source used throughout the food and beverage processing industry, and it is used for all aspects of production - from the transportation and processing of raw materials, to the final stages of bottling and/or packaging. Not only must that compressed air be clean and contaminant-free, but since most companies produce 24/7, they also expect the compressor equipment to provide optimum reliability and performance, with minimal downtime. Proper lubrication is critical to all of those aspects.
Growing awareness of the importance of food grade lubricants for consumer safety and HACCP regulations has led to increasing demand for high performance food grade lubricants. However, selecting a suitable lubricant for the compressor can be difficult. After all, the right solution requires attention to consumer safety and improved performance while also reducing maintenance costs and downtime. Standard mineral oil is unable to meet today's higher demands for air compressor lubricants. ANDEROL semi-synthetic and synthetic oils, on the other hand, have excellent thermal oxidation stability, allowing long machine maintenance intervals. They also deal smoothly with additional oil aging caused by higher oil temperatures and smaller oil volumes. The ANDEROL® range of lubricants therefore offers a suitable solution for every lubrication problem. Below is a preliminary guide to good, better and excellent practices in selection.
Food grade semi-synthetic oils offer an attractive combination of low cost and high performance. They are formulated from synergistic blends of strictly hydrogen-treated, hydrogen-cracked (Group III) base oils to provide a more refined, high-quality product. In addition, they are enriched with high-quality synthetic esters and proven additive technology, which help improve viscosity, wear resistance at higher temperatures and stress levels, and increase their detergency properties - resulting in clean machine lubrication. Semi-synthetic oils can easily last up to 4,000 hours, twice the 2,000 hours achieved by standard mineral oils. The Anderol® FG S Series (available in ISO VG 32,46, 68 and 100) thus offers some of the most desirable properties of a high-performance synthetic lubricant at a significantly lower cost. This makes it an economically attractive choice for customers who want to benefit from the advantages of synthetic oils over mineral oils at no additional cost.
Synthetic lubricants offer excellent performance levels and have many advantages over mineral oil-based lubricants. Screw compressors in particular require a synthetic lubricant. Polyalphaolefin (PAO) based lubricants, such as the Anderol® FG XL series (available in ISO VG 32, 46, 68, 100 and 150), are best suited for compressors and offer a range of advantages such as high temperature thermal and oxidative stability, high flash point and low volatility. They are also are hydrolytically stable.
Companies are increasingly seeking a balance between efficiency and sustainability. Machinists expect longer maintenance intervals and thus longer compressor lubricant life. Longer oil life simply results in fewer production stops, higher output, less oil consumption and less waste. The Anderol® SYNcom FG HiPerf series consists of synthetic screw compressor lubricants with extremely long service life. This PAO/ester-based lubricant offers the best of a PAO base, enhanced with a special ester to take additive solubility and detergency of the entire formulation to a completely different level. This results in very low deposits and cleaner machines, improving lubricant life and machine life. Anderol® SYNcom FG HiPerf 46 offers excellent viscosity-temperature behavior, has a wide operating temperature range (-40 °C to 240 °C), very low evaporation loss (<0.01% @100 °C) of 22 hours according to ASTM D 972, and very good film strength. This oil can last a full maintenance cycle.
Anderol B.V. has a proven track record and more than 80 years of experience, specializing in compressor and food grade lubricants. For the Belgian and Dutch market, ANDEROL works together with recognized distributor Verolub.
For more information: bit.ly/verolub-foodandbev
