Revolutionizing the Grease-Making Process by Ping Zhu Grease-making can be a long, energy- consuming, high-maintenance and
This highly engineered technology
multi-step process, but those days are over. A new lithium hydroxide dispersion technology is available for making simple lithium and lithium-complex greases in a variety of base oils, ranging is an example of microtechnology. from mineral oil, to polyalphaolefins (PAO), to esters, to vegetable oils. It revolutionizes the grease-making manufacturing process typically uses lithium-complex greases, a two-step process and offers significant benefits either lithium hydroxide monohydrate process is frequently used in the every step along the way in the solid or lithium hydroxide monohydrate conventional manufacture method. manufacturing process. water slurry. The process is lengthy, Using the new lithium hydroxide energy-consuming (it uses a great dispersion technology to make simple The Process deal of water) and frequently poses a and lithium-complex greases is a single- There are several of methods that can foaming hazard during saponification step process. In open kettle, lithium be used to produce lithium and lithium- (see Figures 1 and 2). In the case of hydroxide dispersion could save the complex greases. The conventional grease manufacturer 40 to 60 percent Figure 1 in time compared to a conventional process (see Figures 1 and 2). In Contactor, process time savings from using lithium hydroxide dispersion are not as significant as that achieved in an open kettle; however, less energy is used by not having to heat and evaporate the added water. Add lithium hydroxide In a continuous process, one of the dispersion or LiOH-H2O slurry challenges is getting the right amount of lithium hydroxide into the reaction zone. Due to poor water solubility of lithium hydroxide monohydrate, a large amount of water is needed to dissolve the lithium hydroxide. This requires removal of significantly more water during dehydration. Typically, the lithium hydroxide monohydrate is
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Vol. 59 No. 1 January 2009 Compoundings 19
Voices & Views Revolutionizing the Grease-Making Process continued from page 19
mixed with only sufficient water to form Figure 2
slurry, which tends to be heterogeneous and creates difficulty controlling the amount of lithium hydroxide being added to the mix. This lack of control results in greater difficulty in quality control and could lead to poor finished grease properties. Add lithium hydroxide Because the lithium hydroxide dispersion or dispersion is easily pumped into the LiOH-H2O slurry reaction vessel, manufacturers have significantly greater control over the amount of lithium hydroxide metered into the reaction. This eliminates the need for employees to handle dusty, hazardous lithium hydroxide solids also improving housekeeping or to add it as slurry in water. Furthermore, it is very stable in storage and shows no evidence of reacting to carbon dioxide and moisture in the air. than ten microns versus 500 to 1000 above, improves manufacturing Benefits microns). Put another way, thats the capacity without the need to alter or equivalent of a grain of rice compared add to existing equipment. And in Microtechnology is neither new nor to a basketball. (See Figure 3.) these economic times, manufacturers particularly fancy compared to nano- Smaller particle sizes expose a larger are looking for process improvements technology. The new, highly-engineered total surface area, greatly enhancing at little or no cost to enhance their technology were discussing here is reactivity. Faster saponification and competitiveness. an example of microtechnology. It is a dispersion of micron-sized anhy- almost waterless reaction lowers overall In summary, simple lithium and drous lithium hydroxide solid in oil. energy consumption during the drying lithium-complex greases made with Compared to conventional lithium phase. It also reduces the foaming this new lithium hydroxide dispersion hydroxide monohydrate, lithium hazard during the grease-making technology exhibit good penetration hydroxide particles in this new tech- process. Furthermore, its shorter and a high dropping point. Process nology are about 100 times smaller (less manufacturing cycle time, as mentioned benefits are even more significant when the technology is used to make Figure 3: Lithium Hydroxide Monohydrate PAO-based greases, as these typically require a greater amount of thickener to Compared to Lithium Hydroxide Dispersion achieve the same grease consistency as Lithium hydroxide Lithium hydroxide mineral oil-based greases. monohydrate dispersion Physical form white crystals opaque dispersion in oil Zhu is Global Grease % lithium hydroxide 57%; balance is water 36%; anhydrous Commercial Manager with The Lubrizol Packaging bags drums or bulk Corporation. She can be reached at Particle size 500-1000 microns less than 10 microns 440-347-4023 or ping.zhu@ Addition method added as a powder or as metered in via pump lubrizol.com. a slurry in water