SECTOR FOCUS: BLENDING
Low carbon blending technology
Alex Ball, Blendtek Solutions
Lubricant manufacturing today is built around similar techniques and methods as when the industry was born. It is still the requirement that base oils and blend tanks are heated, often through the consumption of fossil fuels, and that there is then a lengthy process of physical agitation in order to achieve a final homogenised blend.
There are two main issues with this. Firstly, it is a time-consuming process as product needs to be brought and kept to temperature, while a stirrer physically mixes the contents of the blend vessel. Once complete and QC is passed, the still hot finished oil may then need to be allowed to cool before filling can begin in order to not damage packaging. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it is very inefficient in the way of energy consumption in an industry focussing ever more on sustainability and optimisation.
There are however alternatives now available, including equipment which uses ultrasound to blend quickly without heat or physical agitation and powered via electrical mains. This new approach can dramatically reduce the consumption of gas or fuel currently required for heating, with some current users quoting a 90% reduction in gas usage (as due to pump constraints, additives still often require heating).
Limiting the requirement for gas or fuel driven heating isn’t only a benefit due to its savings, but the reduction in energy consumption can also move users closer to or even beyond net carbon neutral blending. This is evidenced by there already being a site in the UK using ultrasound blending technology in conjunction with roof mounted solar panels. Following an energy audit, it found that by doing so it has reached carbon negativity and puts more back into the grid than it consumes. As far as we are aware this is a world first and a great advert for the industry at a time when there is ever increasing scrutiny on carbon footprints, emissions and sustainability.
To highlight this further, the aforementioned user’s energy audit reportedly showed 10MT of a finished oil required just 8 kw/h of energy to produce, significantly lower than the 1962 kw/h required previously. This was attributed to the low energy demands of the equipment and lack of base oil and blend vessel heating, as well as using electrical heating jackets on packed additive sources.
New blending technologies such as the ultrasound equipment are also able to offer non-energy related benefits. For instance, a user has stated that QC passing batches of 11.6MT and 10.8MT of STOU (Super Tractor
User provided data generated for an energy audit, showing the impact on consumption from ultrasound blending technology used in conjunction with roof mounted solar panels
20 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.167 FEBRUARY 2022
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