Lube-Tech PUBLISHED BY LUBE: THE EUROPEAN LUBRICANTS INDUSTRY MAGAZINE
Drill Rod Grease Simply explained, grease is made of soap mixed with lubricating oil; along with selected performance additives. Soaps used for drill rod grease are similar to traditional grease thickener chemistry and not much different than the lye (sodium hydroxide) soap used for hygiene. The most common soaps in drill rod greases today are barium based and some include lithium thickener using lithium hydroxide. The soap portion of any grease by itself is somewhat benign, but the lubricating oil used is the components that can impact biodegradability. Soap based greases tend to harden up at extreme cold temperatures. Sometimes, non-soap greases using organo-clay or silica as thickeners have been used. Those greases may not have the water wash out resistance properties of the soap based products; which could yet be remedied by formulation. By far the most effective grease to resist waterwash out is aluminum complex grease which is often used in food processing applications. Pressure washers are used to wash equipment thus exposing the grease to extreme water washout conditions. As a result, the biobased drill rod grease made with food-grade type aluminum complex thickeners could offer the desired property and match or exceed those of barium greases while reducing the use of heavy metal components.
Due to extreme water flow passing the grease on the rod, the consistency of greases found on the market seems to range from NLGI Grade #2 to Grade #3. The Grade #3 greases are for use in temperate climates.
The following table shows typical properties of a biobased drill rod grease.
No.104 page 4
Environmental Considerations There are greases that are considered environmentally friendly and are called environmentally acceptable or environmentally considerate. Some claim environmental friendliness primarily based upon biodegradability performance. Today, there are guidelines by various organisations such as the European Union’s Ecolabel, Germany’s Blue Angel, or the Nordic Swan Ecolabel. In 2013 the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency required the Vessel General Permitting for use of non-bioaccumulative lubricants on ships. But, one of the most desired certifications in the US comes from the designation of Biobased in a program administered by the US Department of Agriculture. Under the designation of Biopreferred Program, government purchasers are required to give preference to purchasing products that meet the designation of Biobased. This designation is based on a requirement of the presence of a minimum amount of Renewable Carbon in the product. A simple carbon dating test is performed using the ASTM D6866 - 12 “Standard Test Methods for Determining the Biobased Content of Solid, Liquid, and Gaseous Samples Using Radiocarbon Analysis”. In this designation, the emphasis is on promoting the use of renewable products.
Conclusion The Vessel General Permit requirements as required by the US Environmental Protection Agency, has created a new impetus for rethinking the use of conventional lubricants. There has been significant progress in developing products that are non-bioaccumulative and would meet the VGP requirements. More importantly, the VGP requirements have led to the development of other environmentally friendly greases including those for drill rods, rail curve and truck uses where product is released directly into the environment.
References 1.
2.
http://www.holeproducts.com/userfiles/files/hp_global_ catalog%282029%29.pdf – downloaded April 15, 2016
Source: Environmental Lubricants Manufacturing, Inc.
www.elmusa.com
LINK
www.elmusa.com
Table 1. Typical properties of Biobased drill rod grease2 .
The most effective biobased drill rod grease tested in the author’s manufacturing facility has been a variation of an NSF registered food grade aluminum complex grease. This grease in field trials has shown to be near fully recoverable from the rods when they are pulled out of the drilled hole. In some cases by using a rod wiper, the used grease could be recovered for possible reuse.
28 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.133 JUNE 2016
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53
