Grease Manufacturing Process:
Grease is a mixture of petroleum oil and thickener (soap) dispersed in oil.
The first stage of grease manufacture is to prepare the soap by adding fats and specified quantity of oil in the saponification kettle (Grease Cooking Kettle) with an alkali until the process is completed.
In this process, normally temperature of reaction goes up to desired temperature. This cooking kettle is open blending kettle with limped coil system for heating through thermic fluid heating system. Over here, the balance amount of oil is added and gently blended in the cooking kettle after soap is formed gradually till the desired specification is reached.
In grease manufacturing mineral lubricating, base oils are used for various viscosity grades, depending upon the specification / quality of grease.
Fats are generally Hydrogenated Castor Oil (HCO) / Rice Bran Oil / Vegetable Oils, etc. depending upon the specification / quality of grease.
Alkali is generally Calcium Hydroxide / Lithium Oxide / Sodium Hydroxide, depending upon whether or not the final grease is Chassis Grease (Calcium Grease) / Sodium Base Grease (Wheel Bearing Grease) / Lithium Grease (Wheel Bearing / General Purpose Grease)
The next step is to transfer the prepared soap to the finishing kettle (Cooling Kettle) where the product is cooled. This cooling kettle is open blending kettle with a jacket for water cooling.
Additives are added into the cooled finished grease and mixed to achieve the required performance characteristics.
In grease manufacturing, during the process at high temperature water vapor and little bit of fumes comes out from kettle and are routed through duct and vented out through the chimney.
Some grease requires milling to ensure that the grease is homogeneous. For this, the grease is passed through a milling machine. The product is at times recalculated back into the finishing kettle until it meets the desired test results.
Required inspection will be conducted at in coming, in process and final stages to ensure that the expected quality of grease is manufactured.
The grease is then finally packed.
Brief description of the lubricants blending process:
At ALSL, two or more mineral base oils / process oils / lubricants are processed / blended with required quantity of additives and chemicals to get the finished automotive, industrial lubricants and specialty oils meeting specifications of various National / International Standards / Customer Specified requirements.
At ALSL blending plant, various base oils and additives are mixed / blended at the recommended temperature by electrical heaters in a blending tank and blended for homogeneous mixing of additives in the entire quantity of blended oil, till the desired viscosity and specifications are met. These finished products are tested as per the established National / International Standard Test Methods, before packing and are delivered in time for achieving customer satisfaction.
At ALSL, raw materials like indigenous base oils, mineral oils are procured from reputed manufacturers like Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited., Indian Oil Corporation and other imported high quality hydro-treated base oils, mineral lubricants procured from reputed importers.
The other important raw materials like additives and chemicals which play vital roles in improving the quality of the lubricant and equipment life are procured from reputed additive manufacturers viz. Lubrizol India Ltd., Indian Additives Ltd., Afton Chemicals etc.
The various proportions / formulae of various minerals lubricants are established in-house to meet the desired viscosity, and additives and chemicals are added to the base oils as per the recommendations of the additives / chemical manufacturers to fetch the specifications of National / International Standards / Customer Specified requirements.
The raw materials like base oils, additives and containers are tested at the incoming, work in progress stage and finished products are tested at the final inspection stage, before packing and delivery.
DIESEL EXHAUST FLUID (DEF):
ACTIVE DEF TM is a Aqueous 32.5% Urea Solution used in Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) System to reduce Emissions of Oxides of nitrogen from the exhaust of diesel vehicles. ACTIVE DEF is a 32.5% solution of high – purity urea in de- mineralized water that is clear, non – toxic and safe to handle. It is non explosive, non flammable nor harmful to the environment manufactured as per ISO 22241.
Also called as DIESEL EXHAUST FLUID (DEF)/ Aqueous Urea Solution (AUS 32) product meets the specification.
INPUTS
BASE OILS
All Automotive & Industrial Lubricants are processed from High Viscosity Index Group I base stocks. Imported Hydro finished base stocks are used for premium quality engine oils, Hydraulic oils. Regular availability of all paraffinic, Napthanic, Aromatic base oils.
Additives
Performance additive packages are blended to improve the quality of the lubricants to perform well in actual operating conditions to enhance lubricant and equipment life.