Gear Oil Filtration & Purification

It should be easy to keep your gear oil clean in a “closed” system. But as with other “closed” systems (like hydraulic presses), your gearbox’s breather needs to vent and draw air. This is vital to preventing overheated and blown seals and allows gear oil to flow as needed. But that breather invariably draws in particulate and moisture, too–despite the breather’s particle filtration and desiccant phases.

In the absence of some other remediation, these contaminants will accumulate, altering oil viscosity, deteriorating your gear oil and other lubricants, and building up as “varnish” on your equipment’s interior. All of which drives up costs.

One solution is to drain and flush your gearboxes. Setting aside the high cost of new gear oil and lost productivity, this still may not solve your problem: even if you clear 90% of the lubricant out of your gearboxes, sumps, and bearing houses, that remaining 10% is often so contaminated that it immediately uses up most of the anti-wear, anti-foam, and corrosion inhibiting additives in your new gear oil.

The best solutions come out of a process-oriented approach to cleanliness and purification. Such an approach considers every aspect of your operation to find, minimize, or remove fluid failure mechanisms, wherever they may creep in.

Fluid Cleanliness through Process-Oriented Contamination Control

Oil-based lubricants like gear oil are significantly cheaper to purify and recycle than to purchase every time they degrade. Trucent develops custom and turn-key separation/purification solutions that will keep your gear oil working as intended by their manufacturers. These include permanent in-process installations, mobile in-plant skids, and mobile oil trucks that travel to your site to separate out contaminants, filter, and purify your oil. 

Our process is straight forward:

First, we work with you to agree on a specification for your fluid’s particulate contaminants, water removal, and additives. Typically, these specifications are based on SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers), AGMA (American Gear Manufacturers Association), or ISO (International Standards organization) classifications. They might include viscosity, additives such as rust and oxidation inhibitors, anti-wear agents, extreme pressure, etc.

Next, we develop a strategy with you to segregate and collect different contaminated oil types on an ongoing basis to prevent cross-contamination. Based on the standard life of your oils or continuous laboratory testing, we create a purification schedule. Our filtration and purification process allows us to maintain your industrial oils at your desired ISO cleanliness code, and guarantees the lowest water content in the industry. We’ll also analyze your oil and return it to its original OEM state through an additization process. (This analysis is necessary, especially if heat and water cause oxidation of your oil.)

Finally, we issue a report that documents the results, before returning the oil to your system for reuse (upon your approval).

Taking Industrial Oil Purification Further

And we can go further. Trucent can install a team in your plant to run and manage your oil filtration technology on a daily basis. Your in-house Trucent team will handle fluid purchases, then monitor and maintain those fluids at appropriate levels and concentrations. When fluids are spent, we recycle or dispose of them with minimal negative impact to your business and our world. No one else offers this level of comprehensive oil purification service.

Every solution begins with a conversation. Contact us today to explore better ways to reclaim your oil and process fluids. If you’re ready, we can schedule a no-obligation on-site consultation now. Our engineers will walk your entire process, sample oil at every stage, and begin the process of making your oil filtration system as trouble-free as possible.