In This Issue:

• Today's Tip: What's In Your Oil?

• Book Bits: Getting Water Out of Oil

• Q & A: Clearing Up Food Lube Confusion

Today's Tip

What's In Your Oil?

• Particles that are sometimes found in new oil include: catalyst fines, rust, filter fibers, bits of clay, undisolved additives and dirt.

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Book Bits

Getting Water Out of Oil

From "Filtration Technology"

The best way to remove water often can be decided by the type of problems it is causing. This is because a problem may be related to water concentration, and concentration determines the best removal method. Water can be dissolved, undisolved (free), or entrained in the oil. Depending on the form water takes, the most common removal methods are settling, centrifuging, coalescing, vacuum distillation, adsorption and absorption.

Above the saturation level, free water becomes entrained. This means that it takes the form of relatively large droplets. In this form, water can be effectively removed with inexpensive settling, centrifuging and coalescing equipment.

More information about the book "Filtration Technology"

Q & A

Clearing Up Food Lube Confusion

"I work in a food-processing plant, and am confused by the terms biodegradable, nontoxic and food-grade used to define or classify lubricants. Are these terms the same?"

Lubrication in the food-processing and pharmaceutical industries requires special lubricants to protect the machinery. These lubricants must also comply with food/health and safety regulations, as well as be physiologically inert, tasteless and odorless in case of leakage. In addition, it is important to be aware that these lubricants are washed during the process and can affect the environment.

Here are some general definitions of the three terms:

Biodegradation: According to ISO, biodegradation is the molecular degradation of organic materials, generally in an aqueous medium, resulting from the action of living organisms. Biodegradability is measured by several standard tests including CEC L-33-T82 (requires a minimum of 66 percent of product degraded in 21 days).

Food-grade lubricant: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) developed a system to classify food-grade lubricants as H1, H2 and H3.

H1 lubricants are food-grade lubricants where the possibility of incidental food contact exists. H2 lubricants are nonfood- grade lubricants where there is no possibility of contact. H3 lubricants are food-grade lubricants, typically edible oils, used to prevent rust on hooks, trolleys and similar equipment.

Toxicity is the possible effect of the lubricant on human health, and is related to carcinogenicity, oral toxicity, eye and skin irritation and other related health concerns. Aqueous toxicity is measured in terms of LD50 by exposing rainbow trout to water contaminated with 100 ppm of the candidate oil for 96 hours. Passing is 50 percent survivability of the trout.

Gerardo Trujillo, Senior Technical Consultant, Noria Latin America

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