Lubrizol announces New Oxidation-Resistant Turbine Oil: Greater Reliability and Uptime

CLEVELAND – The Lubrizol Corporation’s Industrial Additives team presented information about new oxidation-resistant turbine oil technology at the recent STLE 68th Annual Meeting and Exhibition in Detroit, Michigan. Kellie Work, an industrial additives product manager, presented information and answered questions from STLE attendees about Lubrizol RO94HA, a technology that has demonstrated excellent performance in critical industry tests. Ms. Work also shared trends and drivers from Lubrizol’s market research in power generation, and highlighted critical end user needs in this application area.

Ms. Work explained that Lubrizol’s market research indicates that power generation downtime, equipment failure and turbine reliability are the leading maintenance concerns among end users. In addition the global demand for energy is on the rise, particularly in developing regions where manufacturing and consumer demand for energy is increasing. In order to meet these new energy demands, turbine manufacturers are developing power generation systems with a focus on enhanced reliability and operational efficiency. Turbine oil is a critical component of the turbine system and must be able to protect critical components of the turbine system such as bearings, valves and gears. In addition, the oil must be very stable under conditions of thermal and oxidative stress. This prevents the formation of oxidation and thermal degradation byproducts that can lead to unplanned downtime and increased maintenance costs.

Ms. Work went into more detail about the development of a modern turbine oil. These fluids require a careful balance of selected performance additive technology to provide all the required turbine performance characteristics. In addition, it is imperative that the additive technology is able to provide excellent performance in a wide variety of Group II and Group III base oils.

To meet the needs of a modern turbine oil, Lubrizol experts developed Lubrizol® RO94HA, which has a unique combination of anti-oxidants to deliver excellent thermal and oxidative stability. This additive technology has been optimized to provide good filterability, outstanding rust and corrosion protection, and water separation characteristics, including the stringent steam demulsibility test. For use in either geared or ungeared turbine systems, Lubrizol RO94HA has also been designed to provide anti-wear performance. Lubrizol’s turbine additive technology has very low foaming tendencies and has demonstrated low air release properties in a variety of base oils. This is particularly important to turbine oil formulators.

Lubrizol RO94HA is approved by major turbine manufacturers and meets or exceeds critical industry specifications. Turbine oils formulated with Lubrizol RO94HA have been submitted to Alstom for approval against HTGD 901117. Ms. Work said that Lubrizol has recently received formal approvals from Siemens TLV 9013 04 and Siemens TLV 9013 05. Lubrizol RO94HA additive technology also meets other specifications such as ASTM D4304, DIN51524, BS 489 and GEK 32568G. Lubrizol RO94HA exceeds the ISO 8068 specification for steam and gas turbines, with and without extreme pressure performance.

(June 27, 2013)