What is your engine oil telling you?

When it comes to engine innovation, the research and development is often required to focus on two primary objectives: 1) increase performance and 2) meet regulated mandates. In the past years, the most obvious engine related mandates have been the emissions regulations put in place by the EPA and EU.

The constant attention to emissions reduction has eaten up a lot of engineering resources, both time and budget. And, while environmental cleanliness is of great importance to the general public in sweeping statements of “green grandeur,” as many OEMs have clarified before, customers aren’t willing to pay extra for environmentally friendly equipment. Ultimately the engine and overall machine has to perform better.

Founded in 2002, Oil Purification Systems Inc. (OPS) opted to take a closer look at a system that hasn’t received as strong of attention. “We’ve tried to take a look at the oil filtration system, something that has been around for a while that we felt was underappreciated in terms of the value it could deliver to an organization and the end customer,” explains Greg Slawson, president and CEO of OPS. The company’s line of products builds upon tested and proven products, offering a supplemental filtration system that uses electronic controls to continuously optimize the fluid cleaning process.

The lineup includes Eco-Pur, Intelli-Pur and Intelli-Pur II, Environ-Pur and Enviro-Pur Maxx, among others—the differentiator being engine size and the rate of contamination to be managed.

Addressing oil contaminants as individuals

Improved filtration can have a positive financial and economical impact through reducing oil related costs by extending oil maintenance intervals. Secondly, improving oil quality can help to extend the life of the engine system and overall machine. “In that regard, we’re very much in line with OEMs that want to be able to produce an engine or asset that’s going to last as long as possible with minimal maintenance costs,” says Slawson.

“Our approach has been to treat the different sources of contamination differently,” he says. There are two different types of oil contaminants—solid and liquid. Solid contaminants refer to particles that are easy to see and touch like wear metals and dirt. Liquid contaminants include things such as water from the combustion and air intake processes, and glycol from coolant intrusion which can accelerate the formation of acids. “Traditional paper media filters can hold a little water, but can’t get it out of the system.”

OPS ensures efficient and effective filtration of physical particles by bypassing the system and taking small amounts of oil and filtering it allowing it to filter particles as small as 3 microns. Typical full flow filters are only able to catch particles around the 20 micron range, and the problematic contamination particle size is only 10 microns.

The company controls or reduces liquid contaminants in the oil through its electronic evaporation process. OPS creates a catalyst for the liquid molecules to turn into gas or vapor, then creates a pathway for the gas to vent to the atmosphere.

The catalyst is agnostic to oil, knowing that each company and fleet owner has a favorite brand or type.

“None of the emissions are harmful that come out of our system,” says Slawson. “We’ve gone through the testing qualifications for the California Air Resource Board (CARB), which is the most stringent in the country. Typically it is water vapor exiting the system.”

System integration is just the beginning

Once the OPS system is put into place, it is only the beginning of the process. After the system is integrated, oil samples are taken and analyzed to show how the oil is behaving. The sampling will also find what the sources of contamination are.

“If you have an engine that has a high level of diesel fuel in it that is causing the viscosity to migrate, it’s impacting the overall quality or lubricity of the oil,” Slawson explains. “You’re going to be able to pinpoint where that fuel is coming from, giving the end user a real preventative maintenance tool.”