Water contamination in paper mill lubrication systems

EASZ-1 PPM MOISTURE or PERCENT WATER MONITOR

It is very important to detect water contamination when it is happening. The EASZ-1 has a response time of 1 second . It has a resolution of 30 ppm and will detect any presence of dissolved or free water in your oil system in real time - even if the exposure was for a very short period. It is important to measure moisture content in an oil but it is also just important to catch free water which can go unnoticed .

Why you should measure moisture and free water contamination!

Paper manufacturing processes are very water intensive and paper machine lubricants frequently become contaminated with water in paper mills. Water contamination is a serious problem and can cause considerable losses in revenue due to its life shortening effects on bearings and metallic parts as well as degrading lubricants.

Alot of energy and time has been spent by engineers to rid oil of water contamination and its effect on equipment life. Preventing water ingression into lubricating equipment has become a full time occupation for specialist designers. Lubricating oil suppliers also place a high premium on the ability of their products to demulsify or shed water rapidly, one of the major features of oils designed for paper mill service. Even though these efforts to incorporate protection from the detrimental impacts of water on paper machinery into product design, the quick and cost-effective removal of water from lubricating oils remains a major maintenance challenge.

Probably the best way to combat water contamination is to prevent it from occurring at all, complete elimination of water contamination in paper mill lubricants is an extremely difficult task for paper mill maintenance engineers. However, preventive maintenance practices, beginning with an understanding of how water is entering the oil system, and the timely deployment of the appropriate corrective actions, can reduce the number and intensity of such occurrences. Together, these practices minimize the exposure of critical machinery components to the damaging impact of water and result in longer equipment life and lower maintenance costs.

Limiting Water Contamination - Water finds its way into lubricating oil systems in many ways. Some examples could be lube oil return line vents, leaking heat exchanger coils,leaking rotary steam joints, reservoir hatches, covers and tops, bearing labyrinth seals , condensation from moist paper mill air, condensation on the lube reservoir and possibly improperly installed make up oil.

It is important to minimize the sources of water contamination and to analyze and rapid or long term change in content with online monitoring of moisture/water . Water contamination can affect your profits in several ways. Here are some:

• Water contamination can decrease bearing life
• Water contamination can increase the rate of machine metallic corrosion
• Water contamination can increase the rate of oil oxidation
• Water contamination can shorten oil filter life
• Water contamination can deplete oil additives.

Having said all of this, whatever preventative action is diligently practiced, occurances of water contamination will always occur. A keen program to detect and address these instances should be part of every mill maintenance program.

ONLINE WATER IN OIL MONITORING- A MUST!

EESIFLO recommends continued and periodic oil analysis and the careful observation of oil systems by maintenance personnel. Since it has been identified that water in several forms can be loom its head within a lubricating system, it is of utmost importance to use an instrument for online monitoring that not only measures ppm content of water in oil but in addition, the presence of free water in tiny droplets. To catch these droplets the EASZ-1 was designed to be a fast response monitoring system.

Since all lubricants absorb water from the air, an important question addresses the concentration level at which corrective action is required. Most machinery manufacturers recommend that water concentrations should be maintained at 200 to 500 ppm or less. In most instances, water concentrations above 500 ppm and above indicate that corrective action is necessary. Karl Fischer methods and laboratory testing in many cases are accepted as a practiced standard. The EASZ-1 reports water contamination in ppm or percentage which can be correlated with Karl Fisher analysis, however, it must be taken into account that "spot sampling" no matter how frequent or accurate in no terms can adequately represent the total amount of volume that has passed through the lubrication system. Much care must be taken when correlating lab samples with online analysis to ensure that the sample taken is representative and correlates to the reading observed on the monitor at the sampling time.

A small beaker of sample cannot be taken as completely representative of for example 10,000 litres of lubricating fluid that has passed through a system in time. Any mathematical calculation will show that spot sampling alone is questionable as it assumes that water and oil are evenly and completely mixed throughout the whole volume of oil in the lubrication system. Free water can also exist within a certain section of the lubrication system (immiscible) and it is known that water and oil do not like to mix.

The EASZ-1 does not take away the responsibility of site engineers to keep in line with good practice and maintenance plans but it is an online device, an early and real time warning system that can measure increased water absorption in oil, water oil emulsions and free water breakouts at any time .

For product specifications please visit http://www.eesiflo.com/products/easz1_01.html

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Water in oil can enter from many sources including condensation, leakage and malfunction of oil treatment systems. Water in oil will cause corrosion, cavitation and instability of additive packages and encourage the growth of microbes. Online monitoring for water in oil is necessary to maintain and protect your equipment, preventing damage in advance.EESIFLO manufacturer various types of sensors for water in oil measurement, depending on your requirements.