Journal bearings in Sugar mills in general are lubricated by Bituminous based lubricant. Can any one tell me "Lubrication of the same by grease would need change in bearing design"?. what modification does it require. Will grease in softer consistency work in place of oil.
Thank you in advance.
Shiva

First, does the lubricant need to be NSF registered? Basically does it have any chance of coming in contact with the food product?

What are you currently using, gear oil?

What is the reason for the change? Lubricant leaking out or not performing as required?

What type of bearings? Are they completely sealed bearing housing's?

Mr. Michael
Kindly gimme your email id, i will send you the detail. I hope you will be able to solve our problem.
Thank you in advance
Shiva

Shiva; the answer is yes, you can use a different lubricant at the journal bearings for the sugar mill, and yes, you will need yo change the design for the bearing also. The design changes request the building of lube vains for keeping the grease at the bearing longer. Some times (depending on the grease type) you will need two grease ports. A key for the succes on this change is sealing the bearing from the cane juice and fibers. Most of the problems I have seen are related to blockage of the grease supply. I have seen this changes working succesfully in many mills in Latin America. Bituminous lubricants are not allowed anymore to protect gears or bearings due to their aromatic nature. You can use a non food grade lubricant in this application.

Mr. Gerardo
Thank you for your suggestions.

Shiva

Hi Shiva,

We have similar application in a cigarette manufacturing plant. We did the replacement of the shaft and bushing of Impregnator. We use Castrol CLS, setting is 480cc for 4 lube points (upper and lower) in two months. The owner is considering changing the design also, change mind when it turn out ok. The steel shaft is 97 kilos with copper bushing that lifts 18tons cover.

Regards,
Danny

Dear Shiva

At GMR Sugars Sankili in AP we successfully lubricated the travlling grate bearings with Molykote P40, a grease paste based on polarized graphite for over a year. For commercial consideration, the client moved to a bituminuous product again. I think the important consideration is that the base oil viscosity should be high and the presence of solids should help.

Sometime, we do recommend some amout of running-in paste as a pretreatment.