MINISCAN

IR LOG
Lubricants, Oils and Greases

CLEAR VISION SOUND STRATEGIES SOLID PERFORMANCE

 Key: API-American Petroleum Institute, Sats–Saturated, VI-Viscosity Index

V V

- Base Performance +
- Viscosity Index +

IV IV

$$ COST $$$$
IV & V

- Impurities +
Synthetic
Group III Group III
I, II & III
Mineral-based
Group II Group II

Base Oils Group I Group I

 Lubricant
PLUS

Composition THICKENING
AGENT

GREASE
(semi-slid
lubricant)
 The exact
ADDITIVES concentration
and number of
Surface Protection: Performance enhancing: Lubricant Protection:
Prevent wear & corrosion by chemical Chemically improved lubricant Prolong the useful lube additives
means either directly / indirectly or Performance specific to Lifetime via chemical means
by tribological means The required application
depends very
highly on the
Anti-wear additives Viscosity Index Improver Anti-Oxidants
end-use as well
as the base oil
Detergents & Dispersants Pour Point Depressant Anti-foam / defoamant
and the
intended in-
service lifetime
Corrosion & Rust Inhibitors Seal conditioner / swelling agent Demulsifier / emulsifier of the lubricant
as requested
by the market
Extreme Pressure Complexing agent thickener Metal deactivators
or regulations
ADDITIVE
ADDITIVES
chemistry

Chemically
Chemically
Active / OTHER
INERT
Reactive

FILM Viscosity Anti Foam

DEPOSITION 4. Emulsifier
FORMATION Modifier Demulsifier
CONTROL 5. Dye
(TRIBOLIGICALLY Pour Point Seal Swell
AGENT 6. Odour Mask
ACTIVE) Depressant Agent

ANTI-OXIDANT Friction Modifier

Anti-wear
variable
Dispersant
Detergent Extreme Pressure
Rust / Corrosion
inhibitor

Significant Spectroscopic changes as the oil is

used and the additive depletes and/or reacts as
designed or specified.
 MINISCAN IR LOG
MINISCAN IR LOG Lubricants, Oils and Greases

Bearing (greases), Engine diesel, Engine Petrol, Engine bunker fuel,

Gear, Crankcase, Hydraulic oils, transformer / insulating oils, machine
oil, rolling oils, FRHF, oil or air compressor lubricant, fuels (all types),
food oils, SCF (ad-blue), diesel generators, electrical / steam / Gas
turbines, aerospace turbine, Ethanol/methanol in gasoline, FAME in
Diesel, lubricants for machinery……..
 Hydraulic
Oil
Air / Gas
Marine Compressor
oil

Refrigeration
Machine
Compressor
oil oil
Base oil &
Additives

Turbine oil Engine oils

Gear Bearing
Oils oil/grease

+ Transformer
& others
Turbine Transformer
Busch Mineral ASTM D2668 - Antioxidants
Transformer Oil
Monolec LE 6404 ISO 100 Mineral
Synthetic/ Compressor
Royal Purple Syndraulic ISO 32 Mineral
Monolec LE6403 ISO 68
Exxon Terrestic GT 32 Mineral
Turbine Oil Mineral Crude
Chevron GST Mineral Water in Crude Oil (0 - 1%)
Water in Crude Oil (0 - 80%)
Engine AKA: Insulating Oil
ASTM 2412 Crankcase Mineral Other
Crankcase Oil (A2 Method) Mineral Antifreeze in water
Military Oil Mineral Water in ethanol
Rotella T 15w40 Mineral
Oil in water (0 - 30 ppm)
Mobile 1 Synthetic

Typical Compressor Oil

10
 Dispersive FTIR – mechanically complex, electronically relatively simple

1 Scan per 30mins

Fourier Transform Infra-Red FTIR – mechanically much simpler, electronically complex

Functional groups detectable by IR
I.I Instrumental FTIR Evolution
Thoughtful feedback led Miniaturization

Physical Attributes
• 15 lbs / 6.8 kg
• 8” x 11.5” x 7.5”
Laboratory (1970’s) • 20cm x 30cm x19cm
120 kg
• Internal battery 3-4 hours / Mains
• Dedicated sample interface peak performance
• Cell-less design and easy clean
• Full FTIR Spectral Analysis
• Robust Design for field use
Software
Analysis

ANALYSIS

14
Chemometric complexity

PLS1
→→ Complex

PCA
Library Search
Simple

Univariate
SET-UP AND CLEAN UP MEANS THE SAMPLE TO SAMPLE
TIME CAN BE IN EXCESS OF 30 MINS FOR EVEN A HIGHLY
EXPERIENCED OPERATIVES FOR THESE “DEMOUNTED CELLS”
USED IN COMPETITOR SYSTEMS, FOR GREASES AN EXTRA 5-
10 MINS IS NEEDED. THREE SYSTEMS PICTURED.

High Cost,
Unreliable,
Many Parts,
Consumables,
SAMPLE→SAMPLE ~0.5-1 HOUR, every sample Time consuming,
requires disassemble and then re-assembly Cleaning agent volumes
4500t driven between sites by 4x4 vehicle
Background valid for 10 mins
Example results for a gear oil
 Phenolic-
antioxidant

21
 Some of the spectral
assignments for the
air compressor oil

Oxidation of
lubricant

Aminic based
anti-oxidant DDP based
anti-wear EP
OH / water additive
Sulfate
Phosphate Ester /sulfonate
additive (blue line) additive
The boxed arrows indicate the spectroscopic positive/negative trend with wavenumber. The
Microlab PC software was used to calculate the spectral changes 22
Background
Collection

Sample Data /
Spectra
Collection

Actionable &
Scalable
results
 NEW In-service In-service In-service In-service In-service In-service
Compressor
oil Example A B C D E F G
Water
(ppm)
1,125 462 113 0 49 0 50
Phenolic
anti-ox 0.29 0 0 0 0 0 0
(wt%)
Aminic
anti-ox 3.34 1.15 0.56 0.44 0.50 0.36 0.33
(wt %)
Anti-Wear
ZDDP 23.7 14.9 5.4 4.4 6.4 5.7 5.8
(Area)
Extreme Pressure
(area)
159 94 50 43 48 40 39

Oxidation
(Area)
0 9.19 51.95 62.69 70.95 81.91 91.09

Sulfate / Sulfonate
(Area)
209.5 133.6 38.9 26.2 44.3 36.4 39.3

Nitration (Area) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.4

increasing age/operation time of the oil → →→ chronological order

 Sulfate/sulphonate detergent Oxidation (Area)
250 100
90

200 80
70

150 60
50

100 40
30

50 20
10

0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

WATER (PPM) Nitration (Area)

1,200 0.45

0.4
1,000
0.35

800 0.3

0.25
600
0.2
400 0.15

0.1
200
0.05
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
 http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/100/ph-test-tan-tbn

ZDDP

Viscosity

R-OH-R Acid Number

Additive depletion Oxidation →
(+ further additive depletion)

App Note: 5990-7801

TURBINE OIL TRENDING

 Exercise A – Spectral collection, Overlay and
repeatability of Lubricants, Oils & Greases using a
Data Collection Only Microlab PC method.

Exercise B – Showing a component method of a pre-

optimised lubricant oil method for the gearbox of a
wind turbine of 1.3 MW and the advantages of a
bespoke method for a liquid lubricant.

Exercise C – Bearing Grease analysis of using the

MINISCAN IR LOG : simple and high-throughput
analysis with an actionable result in < 1min
End