Fluids & Oils

At CHEM Group, various fluids and oils are reprocessed and/or repurposed. Examples include hydraulic fluids such as phosphate esters, rolling oils for aluminum and other industrial purposes.

Rolling Oils

Rolling oils refer to a special class of lubricants utilized mostly in cold mill processing.  Such oils are typically mixtures of paraffinic and naphthenic hydrocarbons to which various alcohols and esters have been added for optimum performance.

In use, such oils serve to increase roll-life and reduce mill power consumption by reducing roll loads and vibration.  Over time, however, these rolling oils become contaminated with other oils and hydraulic fluids that are less volatile and can impact product quality issues such as staining.

Even though most modern mills include provisions for the continuous filtering of such oils to remove metal fines, filtering alone is generally unable to insure optimum fluid performance and so such oils must eventually be replaced.

At CHEM Group, we offer an attractive option to the replacement of such fluids through a distillation based reclamation process that returns contaminated rolling oils to their virgin specifications without thermal degradation and without the removal of performance enhancing additives.

With yields typically exceeding 95%, such reclamation services offer CHEM Group customers the opportunity to save from 35-65% over the cost of alternative replacement options.  Unlike many other reclamation options, CHEM Group’s program includes residue disposal costs, requires no investment in on-site equipment, and requires the purchase of no additional additives.

Hydraulic Fluids

At CHEM Group, hydraulic fluids refer to a special class of oils and lubricants used in high pressure or high temperature applications ranging from automatic transmissions, to certain industrial or “heavy” equipment and commercial aircraft. The composition of hydraulic fluids may include mineral oils, phosphate esters, silicones, polyalphaolefins, and fluorocarbons.

In use, hydraulic fluids are typically exposed to high pressures and high temperature.  Over time, this results in performance degradation due to contamination as well as viscosity break down.  At CHEM Group, these contaminants can be removed through custom distillation to yield reclaimed fluids matching their original performance specifications and rendering them completely suitable for return to service.

Among the most important physical properties associated with hydraulic fluids is viscosity.  Over time, the viscosity of such fluids may increase due to contamination or may decrease due to degradation and decomposition.  Even when hydraulic fluids are filtered during use, they will eventually suffer from viscosity break-down that will result in poor performance and ultimately require replacement or reclamation.  More than 75% of system failures are ultimately attributed to the use of contaminated and degraded fluid.

Today, with the high cost of raw materials used in the manufacture of most commercially available hydraulic fluids, reclamation of these fluids has never represented a more compelling option in terms of cost reduction and waste minimization.  Please do not dispose of your used hydraulic fluids without first exploring the feasibility of their reclamation at CHEM Group.