MEET SVR RO FOR RUST & OXIDATION TURBINE OIL

From the first day, a lubricant is put into service, it begins to accumulate dissolved oxidation by-products – the feedstock of varnish, constraining the life of the oil. These oxidation by-products accumulate until the lubricant has no remaining capacity, forcing any excess into insoluble material. Based on their polarity, this insoluble material is more attracted to metal surfaces, creating solid varnish – a common failure mechanism. In the absence of active lubricant chemistry management, oxidation by-products will accumulate, guaranteeing this failure mechanism will occur. Furthermore, this contamination increases the rate at which additives are consumed, significantly reducing the life of the oil.

SVR® RO is an engineered skid-mounted dialysis-style lubricant conditioning system that manages fluid chemistry full-time, removing oxidation by-products as they are created. Backed by patented ion-exchange technology, ICB® RO, SVR RO eliminates the molecules that should not be in the oil, returning the lubricant to a highly unsaturated condition, forcing any existing varnish deposits to be dissolved back into the oil via chemical equilibrium.

By continuously eliminating the dissolved oxidation material during regular turbine operation, the root cause of varnish is eliminated. The result: the acid number never increases, MPC never increases, and oil performance is consistent throughout its lifecycle. Additive life is also extended as the secondary reactions with accumulated oxidation by-products that would otherwise occur are eliminated, significantly extending lubricant life.

SVR® RO Product Bulletin

SVR® GT1/XT1 Product Bulletin

SVR® Technical Bulletin

SVR RO Features and Benefits

Utilizes patented ICB® RO ion-exchange filters to remove soluble varnish contaminants at the molecular level preventing the oil from becoming saturated and forming varnish deposits
Dramatically reduces varnish potential as measured by the Membrane Patch Colorimetry test (ASTM D7843-21)
Eliminates varnish-related problems in all turbine-system components
Quickly removes varnish deposits
Reduces ISO particle-counts
Manages fluid life with as little as 5% annual top up
Creates potential for fluid life to be extended for the life of the turbine
Avoids flushing and related downtime
Eliminates need for expensive after-market additives
Engineer approved system designed to facilitate rapid approval and deployment
Manufactured to ISO 9001 standards
Very low maintenance and time requirements outside of routine ICB and mechanical filter replacement (results dependent)
No downtime – SVR can be installed without an outage

SVR RO owners receive a complete support program, including complimentary oil analysis and expert interpretation from our professional and Ph.D. Chemists until the results have been documented. After results have been confirmed, owners are given the option to continue the analysis program for a quarterly fee.

Rust and Oxidation Turbine Oil Lubricant Lifecycle Management Solutions

SVR RO System Sizing for Turbine and Compressor Lubricant Maintenance

For normal turbine or compressor oil maintenance, the desirable flow rate is to exchange the fluid reservoir volume 1 – 2x per day. For recovery projects, higher exchange rates are desired.

SVR SYSTEM SIZE	SVR RO 150	SVR RO 300	SVR RO 600	SVR RO 1200	SVR RO 2400
Reservoir Volume (L / Gal)	1600 / 420	5472 / 1440	13680 / 3600	27360 / 7200	54720 / 14400
Reservoir Exchange Rate per 24 hr	1.8x	1.8x	1.8x	1.44x	1.44x

SVR RO Electrical Configuration Options

General Purpose with 50 Hz and 60 Hz electrical frequency options
CSA Class 1 Div 1 Group C & D with 50 Hz and 60Hz electrical frequency options
CSA Class 1 Div 2 Group A, B, C & D with 50 Hz and 60 Hz electrical frequency options
IECeX and ATEX-approved configurations are available. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us for more information.

We supply equipment with single-phase and three-phase voltage options.

Did you know varnish removal solutions that only address insoluble contamination are not solving 100% of the problem?

Yes No

The Truth About Solid (Insoluble) Contamination

In many critical applications, particularly gas turbines, varnish contamination is not the result of insoluble contamination. While removing insoluble contaminants is a benefit to any oil system. Removing deposited varnish requires very clean fluid for prolonged periods and an environment where the varnish is not being continuously produced. Short-term benefits are possible from removing insoluble material, but varnish deposits often re-emerge after a short period because insoluble removal is not directly correlated with varnish production.

Lubricant varnish usually is dissolved in the oil during equipment operation when the oil is hot. Insoluble contamination removal using particulate removal technologies is ineffective when the oil is at operating temperature because the varnish is not in the particulate form. Therefore, particulate removal devices, including electrostatic oil cleaners, agglomeration devices, and depth filtration systems, offer no benefit from varnish mitigation during regular equipment operation.

Insoluble contamination is only part of the equation. Together soluble and insoluble contamination accounts for 98%+ of the contamination that creates varnish.

During regular turbine operation, in-service turbine lubricants break down due to oxidation, producing dissolved oil breakdown products – this soluble contamination is the feedstock for varnish deposits. Depending on the level of soluble contaminants, lube oil systems with low-flow areas such as peaking/cycling gas turbines are particularly susceptible to varnish problems. In these low-flow areas, the varnish will form on valves during downtime when the fluid temperature cools and soluble contaminants accumulate to form varnish.

The lubricant’s solvency can be restored and maintained at new fluid values by removing the dissolved breakdown products as they are formed. More importantly, any deposits created from the same lubricant will be dissolved back into the oil.

Widely used worldwide to restore and maintain very low varnish potential numbers, SVR™ RO removes the contamination that causes varnish deposits without waiting for the varnish to form during regular turbine operation when dissolved in the oil. As a result, saturation cannot occur under any lubricant condition, preventing varnish formation. Other varnish removal equipment offerings fail to address this primary cause of varnish.

ICB and particulate filter address solid and dissolved contamination

Is it time to re-evaluate your turbine lube oil maintenance strategy?

Learn More

Let’s Start with ASTM D4378

ASTM D4378 is the in-service guide for managing lubricants in turbines and compressors, stating, “oil replacement occurs when both the acid number increases 2-3x and antioxidants decrease by 75%.” Operating within this standard demands an optimized lube oil maintenance strategy focused on the rate of oxidation, acid production and additive consumption. Why?

Oxidation material accumulates in the oil as a dissolved waste product resulting in varnish after the oil becomes saturated.
Modern turbine oils are non-polar, and the waste products generated from oxidation are polar. This causes the oxidation material to be more attracted to metal surfaces than the oil itself.
Oxidation material accumulation impacts oil performance, with common operating issues occurring in the middle or second half of the oil life cycle.
The effectiveness of oil top-up decreases over time, as the additive in the new oil immediately reacts with the accumulated oxidation material in the oil.

EPT Clean Oil’s Fluid Technical Center is a state-of-the-art lubricant research facility, offering specialized analysis and comprehensive evaluations to provide a complete picture of your rust and oxidation turbine oil condition as per the guidelines provided in ASTM D4378.

Our Lube Oil test package, applicable for mineral-based turbine lubricants and synthetic fluids with R&O additive packages includes: