A Texas-based oil and gas company, known as an innovator in new technologies and for tight safety and environmental standards, recently formed a team to focus on coolant cleanliness as a means to cut costs and increase plant safety and eco-friendliness.
They found what they needed in Eclipse Magnetics's patent pending Micromag magnetic filter.
Problems caused by coolant sludge
Keeping coolant clean can be a daunting task. As coolant runs through machinery, it naturally picks up metal fines and other scrap. There are a number of ways to filter coolant, yet sludge, the mass of metal fines that result from the manufacturing process, accumulates at the bottom of the tank.
Removing sludge from the tank is a laborious, time-consuming and, frankly, distasteful task. After the sludge is removed, it must be collected, transported and dumped.
Costs for the process add up quickly: production stops and old coolant must be removed before cleaning the tank, and the sludge must be loaded, hauled and disposed.
The consequences of dirty coolant are three-fold:
1. Additional tooling costs. Dirty coolant leads to shorter tooling life, increased downtime, quality issues, shorter machine-component life and increased machine maintenance.
2. Increased safety risks. As metal fines accumulate in coolant, bacteria are drawn to the particles. Once bacteria adhere to the metal particles, the conditions for rapid growth are in place, resulting in noxious odors that can lead to breathing issues. In addition, when bacteria-ridden coolant comes into contact with skin, dermatitis and rashes result.
According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, “The costs of associated with allergic disease are extraordinarily high . . . $3.4 billion on indirect costs, related primarily to lost work productivity.”
3. High disposal costs and environmental damage of used coolants and traditional media.
As the Texas company’s team investigated the issue of coolant cleanliness they learned of the Micromag. The compact Micromag uses high-power neodymium rare earth magnets to efficiently remove steel and grinding medium particles, down to sub-micron size, from fluids used in honing, tapping, cutting, grinding and fine finishing.
After succesfully trialling one Micromag, the company put in their order: one Micromag magnetic filter for each of their plant’s 27 turning machines. Each magnet pulls out five to ten pounds of metal particles per tank every couple of weeks, adding up to about 20 pounds a month per tank.
As the Micromag does not use consumables, the company is saving money on items such as paper filters and less waste ends up in landfill. As an additional bonus the company finds there is less wear on tooling.
Food industry standard metal-detectable tools now available from our online shop site 
Company literature available as PDFs including the Product Catalogue, Micromag and Ultralift+