How to Detect, Treat and Prevent Microbial Contaminants in Lubricants

Also called microorganisms, microbes are microscopic living organisms that can be beneficial or detrimental to human health.

What are Microbes?

Microbes can be grouped into five major categories: viruses, bacteria, archaea, fungi and protists. As humans, we currently have millions of microbes throughout our body, and current estimates suggest there could be up to 1 billion different species of microbes on earth.

If you have ever taken a level one training with Noria (MLT I or MLA I), you will have heard us compare industrial machinery to the human body: “Take care of your machinery as if you were taking care of your body.”

After COVID-19, we are all well aware of what a virus looks like, how it is potentially transmitted and how harmful it can be to certain people. We can relate that to how detrimental microbial contamination can be in an industrial oil.

Detection

When we start feeling sick, we need to perform some basic diagnostics before we can start healing; a similar approach should be taken with lubrication. What are the symptoms, what is the root cause of the symptoms and how do we fix it? Here are some of the symptoms of microbial contamination:

You should be aware of certain characteristics that may produce a high probability of microbial growth: high