- Dow in Brazil
UCON™ SL 17000
The increased production level of sugarcane mills, the longer harvest seasons and the processing of increasingly higher amounts of feedstock have been leading mills to seek chemical components to optimize production, lower costs and reduce their environmental footprint. Lubricants are among the chemical products broadly used in mills, in the milling phase, during which sugarcane is defibrated and crushed on a successive basis. High performance lubricants are essential to protect pieces of equipment, prevent their components from wearing, achieve a lower consumption and have the food certification for incidental contacts with the feedstock that will become the final product for human consumption - sugar.
Historically, lubricants used in this application were asphaltic oils that, in addition to being oil derivatives, are not certified to be in contact with food, not to mention the fact that they are highly polluting oils.
With this in mind, Dow has developed UCON™ SL 17000, a biodegradable polyalkylenegycol-based lubricant. In addition to this sustainable feature, UCON™ SL 17000 received the NSF-H1 certification (food level) and offers a higher performance compared to its precursors, what assures a reduction in lubricants costs of 70%. Already used in some Brazilian sugarcane mills, the expectation is that, in the future, the benefits offered by the new sustainable UCON™ SL-17000 will be replicated to other regions of the planet where the sugarcane industry operates.