Enhancement of engine oil life with vaccination method

Rock trucks and construction machinery are indispensable for open pit mining. 135 lt mineral oil is used in the engines of pickling trucks and all of this oil changes after 200 hours of use. For this reason, a significant amount of oil consumption and costs occur in construction machinery. Oil change is done for 3 reasons. These; physical and chemical deterioration caused by oxidation, contamination with chemicals caused by combustion reaction and filling of oil working hours. If physical and chemical change or contamination is detected during the checks performed, the oil is renewed without waiting for 200 hours periodic change time. The aim of this study is to determine the periodic maintenance periods of engine oils and to investigate the extent to which engine oil life can be increased by vaccination method. For this purpose, the oil consumption of 104 lorries operating in Ege Lignite Enterprises was monitored, periodic change time of the engine oil was determined by oil analysis and it was researched how the oil working hours could be increased by changing the oil at certain rate instead of changing the whole of the engine oil. In this study, Total Base Number (TBN), which indicates the base degree of the oil, was used as the measurement criterion of engine oil life. As a result of the measurements, it was determined that the life of the engine oil reached 538 hours. Thus, it has been found that even without vaccination, the oil can be used more. After 538 hours, 30 liters of inoculation in oil increased oil life by 300 hours. Thus, it was found that the inoculation method increased motor oil utilization time by 55%. This study, which provides maximum utilization of mineral oil, has the potential to have positive effects both in terms of financial and environmental health.