FUELS & LUBRICANTS
IM spoke to Ron LeBlanc Senior, Senior Technical Advisor, Petro-Canada
Lubricants about the increasing use of heavy-duty engine oils in mining
and the resulting benefits
Q There has been a trend towards more use of the API CK-4 standard of
heavy-duty lubricants, has this continued and has this been reflected in
Petro-Canada Lubricants’ own sales?
A The interest in API CK-4 heavy-duty engine oils within the mining
industry has continued to grow over the past 12 months. Its
compatibility/backserviceability with both older and newer engines
means that mining fleet operators and owners can use it in all of their
vehicles. As API CJ-4 oils are no longer readily available, many mining
fleets are transitioning to API CK-4 solutions, such as our DURON™, for
their improved resistance to oxidation and enhanced shear stability. In
addition, the oils offer improved resistance to aeration – this is of vital
importance to mining vehicles as they can entrain more air than on-road
vehicles so require this additional protection.
Q Would you single out a particular Petro-Canada Lubricants’ lubricant as
having seen a lot of uptake in mining?
A At Petro-Canada Lubricants we’ve developed a full range of products
designed to meet the unique and tough requirements of mining fleets. For
example, our DURON UHP 5W-40 product is increasingly popular with
mining fleets, as is our hydraulic fluid product HYDREX™ XV All Season
and our transmission drive train fluid PRODURO™ TO-4+ Synthetic All
Season and PRODURO FD-1 Synthetic for final drives and axles. The ability
to use one fluid year round saves labour and fluid costs while keeping the
machine in the field, as summer to winter fluid changes can be expensive.
These products provide lubricant solutions for year-round operations
and ensure that no matter how tough the conditions, the vital
components of the equipment will be protected.
Q Though presumably these products come at a higher initial price – are
customers in mining, particularly in colder regions now appreciating the
total cost of ownership of these kinds of more advanced lubricant
products?
A Yes, I believe that customers definitely continue to appreciate the
benefits of more advanced lubricants. By selecting a lubricant designed
for year-round protection, mining owners and operators experience a
lower total cost of ownership due to enhanced protection, reliability,
extended drain intervals as well as less unplanned downtime and
associated maintenance costs. This increases the time that technicians
can spend on maintaining critical equipment rather than performing oil
changes. Added to this, a single solution for all seasons consolidates the
number of products required in the shop, which reduces the risk of
misapplication. Consequently, fleets do not need to invest in unique
storage environments - resulting in significant savings that can be
redirected elsewhere.
Q What success has Petro-Canada Lubricants had with its oil analysis
programs and can you give any examples of how it has helped the mining
customer?
A When working with our customers to improve the performance of their
lubricants and the efficiency of their equipment, used oil analysis is a
vital tool. Not only can the process identify maintenance issues before
they become too expensive or serious to repair, but it can also highlight
the opportunity to extend oil drain intervals. We support site operators to
address any challenges found by the report and highlight the
opportunities and savings that used oil analysis identifies. Working with
specialist diamond mining company, Dominion Diamond Mines, a two-
year trial of DURON UHP 5W-40 secured potential cost savings of up to
$900,000. Dominion has since switched all of its equipment to DURON as
its high performance engine oil of choice.
Q Does Petro-Canada Lubricants supply both the surface and
underground mining markets? What differences are there in terms of
requirements put on the oil/lubricant?
A Yes, Petro-Canada Lubricants supplies a variety of mines in both the
surface and underground mining markets – of course some mines have
both surface and underground operations at the same location. Both
markets have specific requirements, for example, surface mines are
exposed to considerable temperature changes throughout the year. The
oil needs to be able to tolerate the warm weather throughout the summer
and the cold temperatures of winter. The temperature variation in
underground mines is not so drastic, but here the safety of employees
and the threat of spills is more of an issue requiring different solutions.
We have a variety of different products to meet the diverse needs of the
mines today.
Q Is the industry norm just to supply the product or is this increasingly
backed up with service and aftermarket contracts?
A There are lubricant companies that simply supply the lubricants,
however at Petro-Canada Lubricants we go further by offering value
added services and support such as training, lube surveys, technical
expertise and oil analysis. This coupled with our no-nonsense warranty
has been a key differentiator for Petro-Canada Lubricants over the years.
“Through these simulations, AXI has
proved this traditional approach was lacking in
tank cleaning effectiveness, which lead to the
creation of Multi-Point. This upgrade adds
multiple pickup and return points to increase the
number of flow paths, average flow velocity, and demonstrated the power of their Multi-Point Flow
Path upgrade in contrast with traditional setups.
Leveraging this insight, the company has begun
consulting on valve placement and tank design to
total cleaning coverage in any given tank.
To both optimise and demonstrate the
effectiveness of this upgrade the company
invested in complex simulation software. AXI better optimise fuel flow for maintenance purposes.”
To further ensure a tank’s fuel is meeting the
international standards for cleanliness (ISO
4406), AXI now integrates particle counters into
uses computation fluid dynamics (CFD) software
to demonstrate the fluid flow, velocity, and
cleaning coverage of fuel polishing
configurations of specific tanks. their fuel maintenance systems as an additional
option. These particle counters use laser-based
detection to identify the size and number of
International Mining | JULY 2019
contaminant particles per 100 ml of fuel. The
result is a three number code used to determine
the overall cleanliness of the fuel as defined in
ISO 4406.
Evonik forms new Oil Additives
business line
In carefully designed and monitored field tests,
hydraulic fluids formulated with Evonik’s
DYNAVIS ® technology the company says have
achieved up to double-digit percentage
improvements in fuel savings, reducing operating
costs as well as CO 2 emissions.
Recently Evonik announced that it is merging