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Lubricants & greases

manufacturing plants
Design, engineering and supply of
lubricants and greases manufacturing
plants
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With over 50 years of blending
experience, in both new and
revamped plants all over the world,
Cellier, as an Activity of ABB
France, fully understands the
complexity of running a lubes or
greases manufacturing plant and
in particular how to achieve quality
and on-spec products within
optimized cycle time, while
lowering operating costs and
meeting sustainability goals.
 3

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Worldwide references
Through our capability to meet the real needs of
the lubricants industry and our unique position as
specialist in the supply of turnkey production units,
Cellier Activity enjoys a leading position in this

AMOC Egypt
AGIP Italy
BLENDCOR RSA
BP CASTROL Australia, Belgium, China, India, Iran, Singapore, RSA
CHEVRON Belgium, China, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, USA
COPEC Chile
ENGEN RSA
ENOC UAE
EXXON MOBIL China, Egypt, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Tunisia, UK
FUCHS France, KSA
GALP Portugal
GULF OIL India
HASCOL Pakistan
IDEMITSU Japan
INDIAN OIL India
INFINEUM Italy, Singapore
LUBRIFIN Romania
LUKOIL Romania
LUBRIZOL France, India, UK, USA
LYBIA OIL Morroco, Tunisia
NAFTEC Algeria
NIPPON OIL Japan
ORLEN Poland
ORYX Togo
PERTAMINA Indonesia
PETROBRAS Brazil
PETROCHINA China
PETROMIN KSA
PETRON Philipines
PETRONAS Argentina, China, India
PETROSAM Algeria
PETROSER Algeria
PSO Pakistan
Q8 OILS Belgium
RAK OIL UAE
REPSOL Spain
SHELL Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan,
Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Trinidad, USA
SINOPEC China, Singapore
TOTAL Algeria, Belgium, China, France, India, Kenya, Russia, KSA, Singapore, Spain,
UAE, Vietnam
UNIOIL Philipines
4 L U B R I C A N T S A N D G R E A S E S M A N U FA C T U R I N G P L A N T S

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International technology provider
Design, engineering and supply of
highly automated plants worldwide

— Our services include: • High-yield grease reactor and peripherals

01 Overview of blending
facilities with Drum De- • Conceptual design • Pigged pipe line components
canting System, Simulta- • Existing plant audit • Pigged manifold
neous Metering Blander,
Automatic Batch Blender • Basic engineering
and Il-Line Blender • Detail engineering All the equipment can be skid mounted. In
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02 Design methodology • Equipment design and supply addition to the key equipment noted above, our
• Installation and start-up by ABB’s own capability includes the design and delivery of raw
expert team material and finished product storage, transfer
• Training and technical assistance and distribution systems as well as filling and
• Software telemaintenance services packaging lines.

Design Process Control

Cellier Activity has developed specific software Cellier Activity has developed Lubcel™, a specific
for the design of new plants or modernisation of process control software for lubricants manufac-
existing ones. The design is optimised to give the turing plants helping you to achieve the compli-
shortest Return On Investment (ROI) time and to ance with quality procedures and a total trace-
guarantee the plant performance. ability of operations.

Key equipment Organisation

State-of-the-art equipment has been developed Our solutions are supported by:
and standardised by Cellier Activity to meet the • a project management focused organization,
specific requirements of the lubricants and • process specialists,
greases markets: • efficient engineering and design departments,
• Automatic Batch Blender • innovative products and technologies,
• Drum Decanting System • worldwide sales and service resources,
• In-Line Blending system • the ABB global structure and expertise.
• Simultaneous Metering Blending system
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01
I N T E R N AT I O N A L T E C H N O L O G Y P R O V I D E R 5

PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS Blending Units Sizing

• Blending batch size
• Blending facilities design
• Cycle time / Work load

Raw Materials Balance

• Bulk storage sizing
Finished Products Storage
DESIGN
• Unloading facilities design
• Dedicated tank sizing
• Packaged additives storage
• Holding tank sizing
and handling design
• Raw materials transfers

Filling Facilities Sizing Finished Products Transfer

• Balance per pack • Transfer requirements
• Filling orders numbers • Transfer systems design
• Change/rinsing overtime (lines, manifolds, pumps,
• Filling lines design etc.)

Process Documents Organisation/Economics

• PFD • Plant organisation
ENGINEERING

• Equipment lists • Manning level

• Process description • Operational costs
• Typical PIDs

Other Engineering Documents

• Layouts CONCEPTUAL DESIGN BOOK

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02

Increasingly stringent product-quality requi- These areas are closely interconnected and as
rements are the standard for today’s lube oil such an optimised design needs to cover the
market. Formulations are forever increasing in complete plant. Design is based on the actual
number and complexity. In addition to these customer production requirements and
production constraints, the Lube Oil Blending constraints which include:
Plant (LOBP) has to face up to the highly competi- • Production portofolio (product slate, required
tive lubricants market. production, formulas, grade/ pack distribution)
• Batch size distribution (Economic Order Quan-
Competitive cost is of primary importance as is tity or Customer Order based)
customer service especially for the industrial • Product compatibility
lubricants market. Ability to guarantee, at short • Raw material characteristics and delivery mode
notice, delivery for the exact quantity required by • Products Lead time and peak demand.
the customer is the daily challenge of every
modern LOBP. The design methodology specifically developed
by Cellier Activity for complex batch production
In this environment, only an optimised LOBP plants, and supported by specific design tools,
design can ensure customer satisfaction and can be applied at the different steps of the
supplier profitability. A blending plant typically project from feasibilty study up to turn-key unit
includes five main areas: design.
• Raw materials storage
• Blending units This know-how applies also to the manufacture
• Finished-product storage (bulk) of greases.
• Filling and loading
• Packed finished products warehouse and
dispatch
6 L U B R I C A N T S A N D G R E A S E S M A N U FA C T U R I N G P L A N T S

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Efficient and productivity-oriented
blending technologies
Depending on the lubricant grades
manufactured: specialty lubricants, fast or
slow movers, you will make the most of the
flexibility of the Automatic Batch Blender,
the agility of the Simultaneous Metering
blender or the velocity of the In-Line
Blending system, by reducing production
costs, increasing process reliability and
product quality.

The collaborative approach of our dedicated

design specialists will help you choose either
a batch or an in-line system, or even an
hybrid blending solution.
8 L U B R I C A N T S A N D G R E A S E S M A N U FA C T U R I N G P L A N T S

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Lube oil blending core equipment
Meet productivity and efficiency
challenges
— AUTOMATIC BATCH BLENDING (ABB) IN-LINE BLENDING (ILB)
01 Simultaneous
Metering Blender (SMB) The Automatic Batch Blender represents a In-Line Blending (ILB) is especially adapted to
as skidded system technologically advanced blending option large throughput production with a limited
especially adapted to complex formulations, number of products and compatibility groups
extended products slate and blend-to-order and when immediate product availability is
policies which are part of production require- required or intermediate storage is difficult
ments of modern lubricants, lubricant additives (such as ship loading).
and fuel additives.
Blending velocity for fast movers
Blending flexibility for specialty products Main advantages of the ILB system are:
Main advantages of the ABB system, compared to • Product immediately available (on spec)
conventional batch blending, are : • Large throughput
• Enhanced flexibility in batch size, product • High level of blending accuracy
formulation, raw material handling and process and repeatability
sequences • Low manpower requirements.
• High level of blending accuracy
and repeatability SIMULTANEOUS METERING BLENDING (SMB)
• High RFTI (Right First Time) index, no re-blend Simultaneous Metering Blending (SMB) is similar
• Reduced manpower requirements to the ILB but coupled with a sequential control
• Quick blend turnaround and mode of operation. It combines the advan-
• Low contamination tage of the ILB in terms of production capacity
• Minimum (virtually zero) slop generation. but also the advantage of the sequential control
related to flexibility and contamination.

— Blending agility for specialty products

01
Main advantages of the SMB system are:
• High throughput capability
• Low inter-contamination through rinsing being
part of the blend
• Reduced number of dosing modules compared
to conventionnal ILB (typically 4 vs. 9) meaning
reduced investment
• Simpler control
• Possible batch interruption enabling direct
drum decanting or manual additions.

HYBRID BLENDING SOLUTIONS

Lube oil hybrid blending solutions consist of
in-line polyvalent dosing and blending modules
to produce both small and large batches.

Advantages of hybrid solutions :

• Enhanced blending and transfer flexibility
• High quality product (higher dosing accuracy,
in-line recipe correction)
• Modular blending (easy layout of expandable
skidded modules)
• Reduced CAPEX and OPEX costs
 LUB E O I L B LENDI NG CO RE EQ UI PMEN T 9

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01

—
01 In-Line Blender
system (ILB), heat
traced and insulated
—
02 Blending plant
including Automatic
Batch Blender (ABB)and
In-Line Blender (ILB)

—
02
10 L U B R I C A N T S A N D G R E A S E S M A N U FA C T U R I N G P L A N T S

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Increase profitability by multidirectional
product transfers
ABB pigging solutions are the best in terms
of reliability, easy maintenance and
minimised cross-contamination. They are
real process tools enhancing transfer
efficiency and flexibility as well as reducing
product losses.
12 L U B R I C A N T S A N D G R E A S E S M A N U FA C T U R I N G P L A N T S

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Integrated peripheral solutions
Streamline operations and reduce
operational costs
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01 Drum Decanting DRUM DECANTING SYSTEM • Line flexibility increased, simultaneous
System
Cellier Drum Decanting System (DDS) is designed multi-connections, reduction of cleaning time
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02 Automatic piggable to pump and dose liquid products (even viscous) between two batches
manifold
stored in drums or small containers and to incor- • Quick, automatic and safe pipe cleaning system
—
03 VI Improver dissolver porate them in formulation processes (chemical • Completely closed system
industry, lubricants, etc.). • No more dead zones, complete line cleaning
• No waste generation.
The DDS perfoms the following functions:
• empties a drum or mini-container PIGGING MANIFOLD
• doses a quantity of product Interconnecting the large number of source tanks
• rinses the emptied drum and with different possible destinations (filling, load-
• recycles the rinsing product. ing, etc.) has always been a major problem of
Lube Oil Blending Plants.
VI IMPROVER DISSOLVING UNIT
Viscosity Index Improver (VII) is the key additive The unsafe and unpractical old “snake-pit” can
in the formulation of multi-grade oils. ABB power- now be replaced by a closed and compact
ful dissolver helps you to produce it in the most piggable manifold ensuring safe interconnection
cost effective way, disintegrating and homoge- without cross-contamination or product loss.
nizing polymer in all forms in a single batch
operation and in reduced processing time. It is Advantages:
supplied as a complete skidded unit with • Automatic operation
surrounding equipment and control system. • Compactness and optimized space requirement
• Flexibility: multidirectional connections,
PIGGING SYSTEMS bidirectional pigging, dedicated/pigged lines,
Used for many years in certain industries, pipe different diameters)
pigging technology can be used where a large • Fast cycle time
variety of products are transfered. • Equipment availability and cleanliness, easy
maintenance.

Pigged lines with diverter and distribution valves

Advantages:
• Optimisation of installation costs by reducing
the number of lines
• Operating and cleaning costs reduced by a
significant decrease of rinsing quantities
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01
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02 03
14 L U B R I C A N T S A N D G R E A S E S M A N U FA C T U R I N G P L A N T S

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Greases manufacturing plants
Expertise and in-house technologies
to optimize your process
—
01 Modular batch grease ABB designs greases manufacturing units • saponification run in a reactor/kettle operating
manufacturing unit
meeting your specific needs. These units inte- at atmospheric pressure or as a pressurized
—
02 Batch grease grate saponification reactors offering excellent kettle to convert the fatty acid to soap and
manufacturing unit
performance in terms of mixing, thermal transfer, disperse the soap throughout the mixture,
(overall view)
easy cleaning and maintenance. They also include • dehydration to remove the reaction water,
satellite solutions conferring flexibility and • homogenisation or milling to break
modularity to your plant: in-line dosing agglomerated particles,
(flowmeters, loss-in-weight), transfers of finished • adjust the grease consistency and produce a
products using pigged lines and production smooth and stable product,
monitoring systems. • cooling
• in-line deaeration to remove air entrapped prior
Application to filling.
All types of grease - simple, complex or mixed -
lithium, lithium/calcium, aluminium, etc. with or
without additives.

Batch manufacturing process

The batch greases manufacturing process
includes the following phases:
—
• metering and addition of reactants (fatty acids,
01 base oils, water, alkali),
—
02

To add special properties to the grease, other • choice of reliable and accurate measurement,
ingredients may be introduced, such as oxidation control and regulation instruments,
inhibitors, anti-corrosion and anti-wear agents. • customization of the control system according
to the process needs.
This additivation step is completed in a finishing
kettle where the deaeration of the product may Greacel™ provides common control tools for both
be completed. greases and lubricants manufacturing processes.

In-line manufacturing process Benefits

In the in-line greases manufacturing process, the • High dispersion and thermal yields
saponification, dehydration and finishing phases • Easy cleaning
are completed continuously. The in-line process • Reduced investments costs
offers: • Minimised operational costs
• flexibility, • Flexible and multipurpose units for the
• reduced cycle time, production of current greases.
• improved process control. • Excellent process repeatability and quality
control.
Heating/cooling
The key to the process control, productivity and Cellier Activity delivers complete units from the
quality lies in the mastering of thermal exchange storage and delivery systems of raw materials to
systems. An accurate heating/cooling system for the filling and packaging systems, including
the heating of oil and chemical components and utilities production.
the cooling of the finished product enables:
• reduced heating/cooling times, The units can be delivered as skids, fully assem-
• fine product temperature regulation with +/- bled and ready for operation, including valves,
1°C accuracy, fittings, control instruments, utilities and thermal
• elimination of thermal shocks, insulation, for ease of installation and to meet
• reduced operational costs. customer layout constraints.

Process control
The Greacel™ software developped for grease
process control is perfectly adapted to the
requirements of greases manufacturers. It is
based on:
• ABB expertise in the control of continuous and
batch processes,
16 L U B R I C A N T S A N D G R E A S E S M A N U FA C T U R I N G P L A N T S

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Integrated blending, automation and
process control solutions
The increasing number of additives
implemented and of products blended
compell lube oil manufacturers to find ways
to manage increased complexity. This can be
done by investing in state-of-the-art
technologies in order to handle smaller batch
sizes and shorter runs, maintain lower stock
levels, achieve right-first-time blends and
manage a wider stock keeping unit range.

Combined with a high level of automation, it

significantly improves operation
performance and safety, with high product
quality, a better management of receipt,
storage, blending, loading and filling
operations, all of which being reflected in
improved KPIs and energy efficiency.
18 L U B R I C A N T S A N D G R E A S E S M A N U FA C T U R I N G P L A N T S

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Lubcel™ : powerful, plant-wide and
scalable process control system

As key technology enabling integration, Lubcel™ inventories, production batches and cleaning
control system manages all lube oil blending sequences. Parameter setting enables Lubcel™
activities, allowing the flexibility necessary for to optimize the production.
the optimal employment of resources, the con-
duct of simultaneous operations, the reduction Lubcel™ can be extended to encompass the
of slops and the elimination of reblending. It control and supervision of all the operations
promote total quality control and the compliance within the plant, from raw material receipt and
with quality procedures, the traceability of storage to product dispatch (blending, interme-
operations (manual and automatic), the elimina- diate storage, transfers, filling and warehouse).
tion of human error and the data tracking. This It is a plant-wide control system integrating
includes the filing of consumption and produc- sub-systems such as mimics, workshop capabili-
tion reports, the logging of events, and the ties, warehouse management, advanced schedule
recording of key performance indicators (KPIs) features. It has no limits in communicating with
and quality data for later laboratory analysis. other systems such as lab or business
systems (ERP).
Together with the ERP system, it creates the
efficiency improvements that make just in time
operations possible. It does this by downloading
the receipt, delivery and manufacturing (blending
and filling) orders from the ERP. It also uploads
reports concerning materials movements and the
work in progress inventory.

Lubcel™ control system

Lubcel™ is a powerful control system for batch
production monitoring and management which
perfectly fits the requirements of lube oils or
grease manufacturers. Lubcel™ ensures the
entire management of raw materials, product
formulation, sub-recipes and recipes, resources,
Lubcel™ synoptic screen

Enhanced productivity Optimised equipment

availability and resources
• Produce on-spec with
more process flexibility • Management of equipment
• Real-time monitoring and and tank status
tuning • Safe startups and shutdowns
• Management of KPIs • Management of assets with
CMMS

Recipe management and High connectivity control

complete traceability system

• Safe product changes • Integrated and scalable

• Repeatability of recipes architecture
• Record of lab results • Interfaceability with ERP, lab,
• Prevent from cross- warehouse, ... systems
contaminations • Reports and analytics
 LUB CEL™ P OWERF UL, P L ANT-WI DE AN D SCAL ABLE CON TR OL SYSTEM 19

—
lubcel™ typical
system architecture

Lubcel™ is able to be integrated with the majority These tools enable to:
of PLCs or controllers. With Lubcel™ you will • follow-up of production, dosing and waiting
achieve the total process control and plant sche- times,
duling software integration of your production • optimise human resources,
system. • optimise process and maintenance operations,
• increase productivity and quality.
Syncel graphics module
Syncel graphics module is a SCADA system CMMS integration
sharing common database with the Lubcel™ With its CMMS (Computerized Maintenance
solution. It includes a complete integrated Management System), Lubcel™ enables efficient
synoptic screen maker. maintenance activities, by:
• managing maintenance operations,
Workshop capabilities • integrating technical documentations,
Lubcel™ enables the management of manual • consequently improving plant availability and
operations through deported industrial PC, WIFI reducing downtime risks and costs.
tablets PC.
Warehouse module
Lubcel™ enables the management of packed
additives, IBC containers including bar coding
scanner and printer solutions.

Advanced short-term scheduling module

Lubcel™ indicates the daily load for each blending
or filling resource (ABB, SMB, ILB…) or workshop
(reception, blending, filling). This short-term
scheduling module is a powerful tool for smooth-
ing the load.

Analytical tools
Lubcel™ provides powerful analytical tools to
identify and analyse the production phases which
need productivity improvements.
20 L U B R I C A N T S A N D G R E A S E S M A N U FA C T U R I N G P L A N T S

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Performance Improvement
We know how to provide world class services
anywhere, anytime when you need
assistance to improve the reliability,
availability, maintainability, productivity and
safety of your equipment and production
processes.

Our service portfolio includes engineering

and consulting, maintenance, advanced
services and IT tools, extensions, upgrades
and retrofits, training as well as service
agreements.

Thanks to dedicated specialists, you get fast

issue resolution and local support at the
right time.
22 L U B R I C A N T S A N D G R E A S E S M A N U FA C T U R I N G P L A N T S

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Your performance is our concern
Modernisation of existing plants

— Why modernise and improve performance ?

01 3-D model review 2 % additives
conducted with the • To comply with highest international quality
savings
customer to ensure that standards.
the plant comply with
project requirements • To enhance productivity and lower production 95% reblend
— costs. reduction
02 3-D model of Lube
Oil Blending Plant • To increase production capacity.
• To enlarge product portfolio.
• To ensure a better customer service.
• To increase control and interface by automation
and plant-wide process control system.
• Improvement factors
Reduction of
maintenance/
The technologies developped and implemented Typical savings
staff costs
by Cellier Activity improve the efficiency of
existing plants.
by 10-50% resulting from
LOBP revamping

Reduction
of slop by 80% stock /
60% inventory
reduction
YO UR P ERFO RMANCE I S O UR CO NCER N 23

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02

Modern blending tools A better productivity is obtained by an optimal

• Variable batch size. resource allocation. It results in time savings by
• Dosing accuracy. efficient, reliable and automated rinsing and
• Reduced and repeatable cycle time. transfer (pigging) procedures as well as in raw
material savings (additives and base oils).
Pigging technology / contamination control
during transfers Additional benefits are a laboratory workload
• Quick product change without slop generation. reduction and a drastic slop reduction (virtually
• Minimisation of cross-contamination. zero at blending stage) and product loss.

High-connectivity control system

• Elimination of human errors.
• Operation traceability.
• Connectivity to corporate network (ERP).

Results and capabilities

Major benefits of a plant upgrade are product
and process flexibility. Your plant becomes
market responsive allowing:
• high quality products,
• inventory reduction,
• Just-In-Time operations.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) improve by

the reduction of minimum batch volume and
reblend index.
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ABB France
Industrial Automation Division
Cellier Activity
700 boulevard Jean-Jules Herbert
Parc d'Activités des Combaruches
73100 Aix-Les-Bains, France
Tel. : +33 4 79 35 05 65
E-mail: info.cellier@fr.abb.com

Contact for the U.S.A.:

Tel. : +1 832 421 4864
E-mail: pablo.e.garce@us.abb.com

abb.com/chemical
FRABB_IA_CE036-V042018EN REV 16.10.2018

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Additional information
We reserve the right to make technical changes or modify
the contents of this document without prior notice. With
regard to purchase orders, the agreed particulars shall
prevail. ABB does not accept any responsibility whatso-
ever for potential errors or possible lack of information in
this document.
We reserve all rights in this document and in the subject
matter and illustrations contained therein. Any repro-
duction, disclosure to third parties or utilization of its
contents – in whole or in parts – is forbidden without prior
written consent of ABB.
Copyright© 2018 ABB
All rights reserved.