Spotlight Service Series – Varnish Mitigation
Did you know? Approximately one in three large industrial gas turbines show signs of oil varnishing. As the oil heats and cools in a mechanical system, impurities begin to develop and adhere to internal components. These impurities are commonly referred to as sludge or tar.
By not removing the varnish, it builds up in the internal components of your equipment. This causes them to become less efficient, causing oil to flow at a higher temperature than it should which leads to even more varnish! This reduces oil life and increases the risk of unplanned outages.
The costly effects of varnish can range from downtime and maintenance to catastrophic failures of equipment. In order to ensure system reliability, its best to monitor your system regularly for varnish build-up, before it becomes an expensive problem.
Breaux Petroleum offers several solutions to help you identify, prevent, and eliminate varnish from your lubrication systems before it’s too late:
- Oil analysis, results interpretation, and customized varnish mitigation strategy
- Varnish testing using Membrane Patch Colorimetry (MPC) — the only test that can effectively identify the onset of varnish within a turbine oil
- Removal of varnish deposits in lubricants and restoration of the oil’s original solubility
Using our resin-based filtration process, we can attack the source of the problem on a molecular level, removing the soft contaminants that form varnish deposits. The filtration allows the oil to regain its solvency abilities and restores oil health throughout the system and its critical components.
There are many benefits of varnish mitigation with the most important being reducing cost, extending oil life, and preventing equipment failure.
Choosing the right varnish mitigation strategy can maximize the lifespan and operational efficiency of your equipment. Not sure where to get started? Contact our team today to learn more.