As application owners aim to maximise oil use, bearings and lubrication systems, manufacturer SKF’s RecondOil Box advanced oil-treatment solution improves oil cleanliness, allowing for its reuse while ensuring machinery continues to operate at optimal efficiency.

In many cases, companies frequently operate machinery using contaminated oil for extended periods, which can result in premature equipment failure, says solutions supplier and SKF distributor Bolt and Engineering Distributors (B.E.D.) industrial bearings division manager Lingesh Naidoo.

While oil might represent only 5% of a maintenance budget, it can affect over 40% of total maintenance costs, owing to associated expenses – such as spare parts replacement, and labour because of increased maintenance – as a result of machine failure and unplanned downtime.

“The perception of oil as a consumable needs to change to it being seen as an asset. Companies have a lot to gain by ensuring their oil is kept consistently clean. Machinery runs better, its operational life is longer and it is more productive, with less downtime. This equates to fewer repairs and component purchases,” he adds.

One of the key reasons the RecondOil Box was developed is because oils are critical to determining the quality and performance of bearings, with the roughness of the bearing surface decreasing by 15% to 20% immediately after the oil cleanliness is improved.

Smoother bearings, in turn, result in less vibration and, therefore, lower noise levels when the bearings are in place.

Further, reduced oil use reduces transport, storage and disposal expenses associated with changing oil.

The RecondOil system cleans industrial lubricants using SKF’s patented double separation technology (DST) to remove particles, water and varnish, says SKF South Africa service delivery manager Lourens Pretorius.

By reducing contaminants, the RecondOil Box assists in reducing friction – up to 35% in testing – and improving system performance.

The two-stage process combines a chemical separation booster with mechanical filtration. The scalable kidney-loop filtration solution suits most industrial oils and offers two filter options.

The standard depth filter can filter down to 0.1 µm, removing water and soluble varnish, while the DST-activated filter provides nano-polishing below 0.1 µm, removing soluble and insoluble varnish. This process extends oil and equipment life and reduces maintenance costs, Pretorius notes.

The RecondOil Box is typically installed as an offline system and its modular design comprises a filter housing, allowing for up to eight filter housings, depending on the application, and an enclosed control box that ensures the internal mechanism is protected from environmental damage.

The RecondOil Box can be wall-mounted, floor-mounted or supplied as a mobile version and requires only a suction point at the tank’s base for a drain port and a return point for cleaned oil, Naidoo adds.

While online filtration systems continuously clean oil within the main process flow, offline filtration operates through a separate kidney-loop circuit with its own pump. In particular, the RecondOil Box cleans a side stream of oil without affecting the main system’s flow or pressure, designed to achieve higher purity and continuous maintenance, Pretorius explains.

The DST does not replace conventional filters but rather complements them, allowing for cleaner oil. By removing the smallest contaminants, oil degradation is prevented, allowing for reuse and contributing to the circular economy and broader industrial sustainability.

“The RecondOil Box changes industrial oil management from a linear ‘take-use-waste’ approach to a circular ‘clean-reuse-extend’ model, closing the loop [and] contributing to the circular economy,” Pretorius adds.

This shift reduces oil disposal needs, supports sustainability and reduces costs associated with oil replacement, transport and waste management.

Recent Installation
B.E.D. installed RecondOil Box for a fast-moving consumer goods manufacturer in September.

The company wanted to reduce the costs associated with the large volumes of hydraulic oil used in its hydraulic presses, extruders and injection moulding machines.

The company was also exploring new technologies to improve the cleanliness and quality of its oil.

In partnership with SKF, B.E.D. was tasked with recommending a solution that would address these requirements, while supporting the customer’s sustainability objectives.

The RecondOil Box offered “an ideal solution”, meeting these requirements while reducing the frequency of oil disposal and replacement.

Following site assessments and a needs analysis, installation – including commissioning, leak checks and air release – was completed in about four hours, Naidoo says.

He notes that, generally, installation is straightforward and, depending on the application, can take between two and five hours.

Value-Driven Partnership
B.E.D.’s bearings division supplies a range of SKF products, including rolling and mounted bearings, housings, super-precision and slewing bearings, among other components.

“We have also developed some products uniquely adapted for the South African context, such as the SKF Agri Hub, in collaboration with SKF,” adds Naidoo.

Beyond product supply, B.E.D. provides on-site technical support, production optimisation, condition monitoring, bearing inspections, vibration analysis, diagnostics, lubrication assessments and bearing remanufacturing.