Implementation Results for the Technology of Comprehensive Purification of Fire-Resistant Oils

Abstract

Currently, power facilities that operate turbine lubrication and control systems using fire-resistant oil only use fire-resistant fluids from foreign manufacturers (Reolube-OMTI, Reolube 46RS, and Fyrquel-L). The impossibility of domestic production of fire-resistant oil is connected with the loss of a special industrial raw material base in Russia in the 1990s. Restoring the entire technological cycle is not a matter for the immediate future. To maintain the operational readiness of oils used in process equipment, extend their service life, and reduce the volume of replacement, it is necessary to organize a high-quality cleaning process. For this purpose, the All-Russia Thermal Engineering Research Institute developed technology for the comprehensive cleaning of fire-resistant liquids and created equipment for its implementation at energy facilities. The results are presented of the analysis of complex cleaning and restoration of oils with their draining from the oil system and “on the go.” The quality indicators of the oils in both variants have been significantly improved—the acid number, deaeration and demulsification time, moisture content, and corrosive aggressiveness of the oil have been reduced, the industrial purity class has been lowered, etc.—and values for individual indicators have been achieved that meet the requirements for fresh oils. It has been shown that it is advisable to carry out complex oil cleaning “on the go,” which helps to clean the oil system from accumulated deposits due to the simultaneously occurring process of sludge dissolution and also allows to significantly reduce the rate of degradation of the restored oil under operating conditions.