In an earlier article, we delved into the causes of varnish in industrial oil systems. We looked at how oil degradation produces submicron particles that eventually cluster and stick to metal surfaces, turning into varnish. Left unchecked, varnish can lead to varying levels of equipment failure, costly downtime, expensive repairs or, in the worst cases, complete replacement.
Those costs can be mitigated through varnish removal. There are a number of techniques and mechanisms that have proven effective in removing varnish from surfaces. One way is to apply heat to essentially reverse the varnish process. Varnish tends to soften under very high temperatures and will to some extent dissolve back into the oil. Until the oil is changed, the particulate matter will remain in the oil and the problem may recur.
In addition to chemicals added to varnishing oil, filtration systems have also been used with limited success. Several filtration technologies including depth media, electrostatic, balanced charge agglomeration and adsorptive resin can be employed to remove varnish precursors from the oil before it sticks to surfaces. While all of these have proven effective to different extents in removing varnish precursors from the oil, they can also remove beneficial additives from the oil including foam inhibitors, rust inhibitors and extreme pressure performance enhancers.
So we see that, although these existing types of varnish removal products are commonly used and effective to varying degrees, they also raise some big challenges and issues. Chief among these are water separability, oxidation stability, and seal compatibility. At Caltex, we have been working on a viable varnish removal alternative to address these issues. We have undertaken extensive and rigorous, real-world testing in high-risk environments, where failure would be extremely costly, to ensure we had a product that our customers could rely on with confidence. We will share the results of our efforts with you in our next article on the topic of varnish.
