Oil Contamination Control

It sounds as though there is a containment problem. Blowing the dust away sounds like it is transferring the problem somewhere else.

Has fine water mist spraying been tried in an attempt to suppress the dust? A "water spray curtain", perhaps, for want of a better description?

We are currently using controlled finer water mist sprays just at the loading point of conveyor belts which is working effeciently even though sometimes we experience problems on plugged chutes due to wet material build ups. I don't think this will be suitable for our application especially on crushers and also we are dry screening.

Is there any person who have used that type of dust suppression on crushers?

Your answer is to "Remove fine suspended solids continuously" out of the return oil from journals and cool the oil too -before pressurizing and sending in to to its job .

You must not allow any buildup.

Buildup will eat up the journal/bush and soon machines will break down.

That will be telling on your bottom line.

Act fast. Send me an E-mail mikemahant@hotmail.com.

There will be a lot ofQ&Abetween us. These will be boring for CR4 members. We will inform CR4 of the outcome.

It is difficult to eliminate dust in our crushing system as we are processing dry material but a reliable and efficient system is required to significantly reduce or control this high crusher oil lube system contamination levels. The existing oil lube system is not designed to operate at high oil contamination levels needs to be modified.

We replace or repair our crusher parts due to mechanical wear. Crusher components are very expensive and efficient system is very important to increase/maintain required lifespan of these components/ parts in order to reduce major costs. The most crusher wearing points/ components due to oil contamination are listed as follows:

Ø Bearing plates

Ø Eccentric inner and outer bushes

Ø Socket liners

Ø Mantle head- highest wearing point

Ø Inner and Outer Countershaft brass bushes

We are also disposing a lot of oil and filters due to oil contamination and operating costs are increased due to uncontrolled oil consumption and filter replacement.

I think installating an off line depth filters system on each of the 7 lubricating systems and a strainer basket on the each return line in our tanks will be our solution to minimize this oil contamination.

Sludge build up in the tank is common on these types of systems and it is necessary to remove this sludge. Removing of the sludge cannot be done through our current in - line filter. It will be necessary to remove the sludge (which is usually very fine particles in the range of 3-5 micron) by means of an off line filter system. I recommend the use of a depth filter to achieve this, as it has exceptional dirt holding capacity and well as extremely high efficiencies. These features will allow the oil cleanliness levels to be maintained. Our aim of this filter setup will be to use the current filtration system as a protection filter for the bearings and to use the new off line filter system as a system for ensuring that oil cleanliness is maintained.

Hi,

once more my question:

why and where is the oil contaminated?

This should be prevented by encapsulating any point where dust can contaminate it.

And pressurise the encapsulation with clean air.

This is much more efficient than to remove a lot of dust from the oil.

Off line filters are not very effective, a trial will show if good enough.

In line filters should be used in combination with volume and membrane filters requiring high pressure. A good effect can often be achieved by electrostatic or magnetic filters, also centrifugal or cyclone filtration is often effective.

Have success (requires some endurance, experiments and good ideas)

Good luck

RHABE

The root causes of oil contamination were observed as follows:

Ø Water ingress was due to buildup of dust (sludge) in the overflow trough of the water chamber and blocked water drain pipe which forced the water to go into oil lube system.

Ø Dust/grit ingress was due to clearance on dust sealing - the mantle being jacked up when trying to crush steel balls or any tramp steel and also choking caused by material build up from the discharge screen to the crusher.

Ø Poor maintenance resulting dirty oil storage tank and blockage of oil filters.

Ø Poor efficiency due to poor design. (Existing systems not designed to operate at high oil contamination level).

And generally it can be dust ingress when tanks are not properly sealed or oil contaminated during filter replacement.

I do not know this crusher but I know a lot about oil contamination and how to measure and to avoid it.

Where and why is the oil in contact with dusty air?

Can you avoid this either by seals, if not why not.

Any contamination should be avoided.

We measured very fine particles of 0.3micrometer diameter in ballbearing lubrication to be of decisive influence on lifetime expectations.

If contacting seals are not suitable, take noncontacting seals either lubricated by extra oil or water or make the seal by clean air blown into a gap.

If possible send a sketch where to seal which part of the machine.

This can be done successful!

RHABE

Here is an excellent power point presentation on dust control using alot of water, spray bars, water tank trucks, sprinklers etc. The need for a retention pond on site or well water helps.

http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/deepminesafety/lib/deepminesafety/training/ppt/dustcontrol.ppt

Dear Sir,

two things -

1) instead of blowing fans - you need a suction machine with suction duct in a particular area & simultaneously put acrylic guard around the lube machne to prevent contamination.

hope it resolves - kindly reciprocate & communicate .

Rgds

Sandeep Bhanushali

INDIA

omegates@yahoo.com

Hello Mazwi!

Just passing by on this forum, but since I have been working as a so called "filtration expert" in Scandinavia (also for LKAB) for more than 20 years I have some comments for you to reflect on;

1. If you have an "open" oil circulating lubrication system where the dust can come to a direct contact with the lubricant - your situation is severe (very difficult). With such a system you can not mechanically filter the dust contamination to a reasonable economic cost. Then, see point 3. below.

2. On the other hand, if you have a closed oil system with a SKF bearing, or other bearing manufacturer, that has some form of a sealing system - the situation could be poosible to handle with a combination of different contamination separation technologies. Normally we measure the contamination level in an oil system by the proven and acknowledged international standard ISO 4406:1999, which determine the amount of solid particles per oil volume in your circulating oil system. If you have a possibility to send an representative oil sample (taken from the pump pressure line, when possible) to a laboratory who can make the oil analyze according to this standard - you will get the answer if it is possible to filter the amount of particel contamination out, or not. If you are within the scale of 25/23/20 (as an example) it is fully possible to do this. I would choose a off-line filter like the Hydac OLF 60, or similar depth filter technology, see www.hydac.com. (To all other filter "gurus" - I do not work for Hydac any longer so spare me your comments of selling filters, I just want to help this guy out with his problem)

3. If the laboratory says - to much dirt to analyze - you are far off the scale for mechanical filtration and you must look into sedimentation and forced sedimentation = separation with a centrifuge.

I hope this information helps you to approach the solution more methodically.

Best regards, Torbjörn Svensson

p.s. A better sealing system on the bearing will also bring down the particle ingression rate quite significant and will help you to save filter costs.