Chemical Technology April 2015

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12 Chemical Technology • April 2015
FOCUS ONPETROCHEMICALS
Lab capacity boosted with new equipment
WearCheck, a leading African condition
monitoring company, recently invested over
R2 million on new laboratory equipment.
The shopping list included a new Gas Chro-
matograph (GC), a new Inductively Coupled
Plasma spectrometer (ICP) and a new High
Performance Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC).
All the new equipment uses the latest
technology to ensure WearCheck’s legacy of
accuracy and reliability of sample results and
diagnoses, said a company spokesperson.
WearCheck serves the earthmoving,
industrial, transport, shipping, aircraft and
electrical industries through the scientific
analysis of used oil from mechanical and
electrical systems. Additional services
include the analysis of fuels, transformer
oils, coolants, greases and filters. The new
laboratory equipment will benefit custom-
ers across all industries, and particularly
transformer analysis.
An expansive network now includes
ten WearCheck laboratories spanning the
continent and beyond, including Gauteng,
KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga Province, and
international laboratories in India, Dubai,
Ghana, Mozambique and Zambia (at Lum-
wana mine and Kitwe), with a presence in
Cape Town, Rustenburg, Steelpoort, Port
Elizabeth, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
ICP spectrometry analysis provides high-
speed detection and identification of trace
elements at very low concentrations in oil
to determine the levels of wear metals,
contaminants and oil additives in lubricating
oils. The ICP has been installed in Wear-
Check’s Middelburg laboratory.
The HPLC separates compounds within
a transformer oil sample, revealing the
presence and quantity of trace degradation
products, which in turn provide information
on the operation of the transformer and
whether there has been any breakdown of
insulating material.
The GC separates and analyses com-
pounds that can be vaporised without
decomposition, revealing critical informa-
tion about the presence of contaminants
via the composition of the oil sample. The
new GC and the HPLC are in operation in
WearCheck’s speciality laboratory (WSL)
in Johannesburg, and have enabled more
samples to be processed in a faster turn-
around time.
Managing director Neil Robinson is
committed to ongoing investment in new
technology. All laboratories are largely
automated and integrated with the latest
WearCheck’s managing director, Neil Robinson,
is confident that WearCheck’s ongoing com-
mitment to remain at the forefront of labora-
tory innovation, will ensure that the company
remains at the helm of the condition monitoring
industry.
information technology. For more informa-
tion tel: KwaZulu-Natal head office +27 31
700 5460, email:
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