Centrifuge - Spin Your Oil Clean

1. Centrifuge - Spin Your Oil Clean 

2. The principle of the centrifuge (Figure 2) is to separate the oil’s heavier elements by spinning the oil to create high G-forces - often in the tens of thousands of Gs.

3. The greater the difference in specific gravity between the contaminant and the oil, the more effective the process.

4. For this reason, centrifuges often work better on low specific gravity and low viscosity oils, like turbine oils, rather than heavier gear type oils.

6. In a centrifuge, both free and emulsified water will be removed; this will depend to some extent on the type of additive package, as some water will be held in suspension in the oil.

7. Just like gravity separation, the lower the oil’s temperature, the more effective the removal process will be, because much of the water will exist in the emulsified and free states.

9. As a tool, a centrifuge is relatively expensive. However, given that it is also a means of removing other heavier contaminants and has a comparatively high throughput compared to other technologies, centrifugal separators are relatively cost effective.

10. The downside of centrifuges is that only emulsified and free water will be removed - although this can be partially overcome by keeping temperatures low.

11. To know more information, visit us http://www.biokem.com.au/