When it comes to dealing or speaking about products that are environmentally-unfriendly, there is much clamour from authorities and users about making them sustainable.
Over the last few years, sustainability and climate protection is becoming more and more central to the industry. There are several reasons for this: Firstly, there is a general increase in awareness of sustainability; users and customers alike are placing more value on the topic. On the other hand, the requirements in terms of climate protection are also increasing — and are likely to increase much more in the future. And rightly so. Considering the damage that man has done to the environment, it is only right that concerned people stand up and point out the way. It is for this reason that electric vehicles are also finding greater acceptance in the world at large. Yatendra Kumar, business head, MotulTech India,
says, “I agree that consumption of coolant and lubricant will reduce, especially for engine manufacturing, which uses the highest in terms of machining and even after that. Meanwhile, there is a push for eco-friendly lubricants and this is rapidly catching up in India. Often we see demand for bio-degradable cutting oil and water soluble cutting oil. The advantage is that these are quite easy to dispose. Moreover, in no way do they affect people handling these negatively.”
GG Pal, director, metal, Jharsuguda, Vedanta Aluminium & Power, says, “We have carefully analysed numerous coolants that we use in our assembly lines and also machines. Finally, we have arrived at Motul and another international brand. The reason is because it has a cleaner and greener footprint as
compared to the others.”
Global energy demand is expected to rise by 25% by 2040 and will be led by countries such as India and China. With this rising demand for energy, it is important for businesses to look at innovative ways for reducing energy consumption and drive sustainable growth. Moreover, saving by eliminating wasted energy and reducing overall energy consumption wherever possible, improves a business’s energy efficiency quotient. This has led to the rise in demand for environment-friendly and energy efficient lubricants.
Kailash Zanzari, sr VP, manufacturing, Bajaj Auto, says, “There is a need to eliminate unnecessary interruptions to production which directly affects machining cycle times, costs to complete each
part from start-to-finish and, by extension, the ability to bid competitively. Since we do a lot of machining of parts at the plant, we constantly look at ways to get more hours a day out of our spindle in order to optimise operations. For this reason, we have stuck to using only two brands of coolant and lubricants so that there are no friction and unnecessary halts.”
Speaking about synthetic lubricants, Rupinder Paintal, director of market development, ExxonMobil Lubricants, says, “Synthetic lubricants are one such environment-friendly lubricants made by using advanced technology to achieve energy efficiency. In 1949, Mobil discovered the PAO molecule, which is the key source for synthesising synthetic lubricants. These lubricants have a wide temperature range which enables outstanding thermal and oxidation stability, resulting in extended oil life, exceptional
resistance to deposit formation at elevated temperatures and reduced maintenance downtime. This in turn ensures a safe operating environment and minimize the environmental footprint of industrial operations. Mobil’s range of synthetic lubricants such as Mobil SHC Elite can extend oil drain interval by up to 12 times as long as mineral oils. These lubricants also help businesses amass energy savings
by directly reducing electrical energy consumption, lowering friction and operating temperatures.
Meeting new norms
There’s a dire need to adopt advanced technologies to decrease machining time to gain a competitive edge mainly for component manufacturing in vital growth industries such as aerospace, medical and automotive. Over the past 40 years, CNC machines and the tools used in them have evolved and advanced significantly, as mills are running at faster spindle speeds, changing tools in microseconds and have more horsepower. Akshay Deep, deputy GM, operations, plant head, Gabriel India says, “We constantly invest in new machinery based on the orders we receive. This also means that
the new machines have an ability to perform well in all aspects of power, torque and speed. This is especially critical to shops that cut a variety of materials. We use high-speed machining in excess of 20,000 rpm when machining components out of exotic alloys and harder metals stainless steel. It also means that we are prone to change the coolant or lubricant based on the machine we have purchased. Primarily cutting oils and fluids provide lubrication but there are other demands as well. Swarf removal, temperature control, surface finish, cutting tool life and cycle times are influenced by cutting fluids which these days are often made up of a water/oil miscible solution.”
Coolant needs to be regularly topped up due to evaporation and the fact that much of it is lost as it clings to the swarf leaving the machine. Coolants can also be a breeding ground for bacteria leading to a lowering of performance, build-up of smell and increasing the irritant levels of the mixture for workers who come into contact with it. Anil Makkar, manufacturing director, JK Tyre & Industries, says, “In all this, most of the production environments are increasingly low staffed or unmanned for round the clock and lights out production, and due to health and safety issues many of the old anti-bacterial constituents that used to be added to coolants such as formaldehyde and boric acid have been banned, it becomes increasingly difficult to constantly monitor coolant levels and performance. The manufacturing process is becoming so advanced these days it makes much greater demands on coolants. Cycle times are lower, accuracy is better and there is very little room for downtime. It’s no longer an option just to cross your fingers and hope everything to do with the coolant will be fine.”
When it comes to the environment, if one maintains the coolant at optimum levels then it lasts longer, that means less cost to dispose of it. There is also a health and safety element – it minimises the machine operator’s exposure to coolant and helps maintain its performance without harmful chemicals.
Manufacturers are looking at saving time and money in their production operations. This is in overheads, manpower and machinery. They want the cost per part to be reduced, which will improve their bottom line. Every second makes a difference. The major OEMs are moving away from the internal combustion engine, which will mean much less metal removal will be required. There will be a wider use
of composite materials and the introduction of 3D printing also means less metal removal. One has to
prepare for these changes.