How to resolve grease contamination problem in a filling line?
A leading pharmaceutical manufacturer, marketer and distributor of a diverse, high quality range of prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) products is looking at reducing process reliability and product integrity due to grease contamination of finished product along the liquid filling/packaging line.
Their current liquid filling machines have two or in some machine six filling heads. Its operating temperature goes up to 22 °C - 24 °C and operating six hours a day, five days a week. EPDM O-rings are used and installed in piston-cylinder assemblies of filling heads as it does not deteriorate when in contact with the product being filled into the empty containers. The O-rings in the piston-cylinder assemblies of the filling elements were not lubricated and would frequently seize and tear, resulting in product leakage from the filling heads.
The solution offered by Klüber Lubrication was a non-greasy H1 lubricant, called UNISILKON M 2000 Spray. This was proposed after grease residues were identified during a H1 grease trial was conducted.
The outcome after switching to UNISILKON M 2000 Spray was the grease contamination of finished product is no longer an issue, thus improving process reliability and solving their issue. Because this is a H1 lubricant, there is no risk of cross-contamination, hence no compromise to process reliability and product quality. They also observed there was a reduction in lubricant application and batch changeover time by 50%.
UNISILKON M 2000 Spray provides efficient protection and lubrication of EPDM O-rings application.
