MARKETS

Lube could save millions

MURRAY Engineering is hoping to expand further into the oil and gas sector with its Rewitec line of lubricant additives which could bring massive savings for the mining and construction sectors.

Andrew Duffy

The mechanical specialist has already had significant success with the product on its own equipment, which spurred it to secure selling rights for the Australian market.

Rewitec is a German-made nanocoating system based on several synthetic and mineral silicate compounds.

It focuses on the sustained running time of treated engines and gearboxes.

Murray projects manager Shannon Edwards, who runs the company’s hire fleet, told Energy News that while the company was using the application in mobile plants, “anywhere where there is a metallic friction surface – whether it’s gearboxes, turbines, you name it”

“We’ve had good results with it so far; the only hard bit is that you can’t see the instant reward,” he said.

“With our group’s annual machine utilisation, we believe we can extend major component life by 20%, which may lead to an annual cost saving of about $12 million, which is a big carrot to pursue for us and the rest of the industry.

Edwards said Murray had already received strong interest from the local mining and construction sectors and there was potential for savings in other sectors including oil and gas.

“Simply put, the market includes any application where there is friction, lubrication and wear of surfaces in relative motion to one another. So it may be in marine engines, wind turbine gearboxes or axles of mobile plant,” he said.

All up, Edwards said interest in the product would increase once its benefits were fully demonstrated.

“We have had initial orders and consequent installation, however the benefit is proven over time so the best results are obtained from large samples,” he said.

“Whilst the product has been endorsed by large leaders in industry and independently verified by reputable universities, we will progressively use Rewitec in our machine components and publish results as they come to hand.

“The cost is low, risk non-existent the expected benefit massive.”

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