A sugar-mill brass is a slow, wet, shock-loaded bearing
The crusher roll journal runs at roughly 5–50 rpm under shock, with cane juice and wash water on the housing. That is boundary and mixed lubrication, not a fast rolling bearing. The grease has to stay put, carry a thick oil film, resist wash-off, and still pump through the lubricator. The crown wheel and mill drive gear want an open-gear compound. Do not use one product for both.
Three components, three lubricants
Journal / brass
Slow plain bearing. Needs a pumpable, high-viscosity, water-resistant grease. This page.
Crown wheel and pinions
Open gear. Tack, sprayability, solid lubricants. See the open-gear formulation page, including sugar tandem drives.
Mill drive gearbox
Enclosed gear oil, not grease. Industrial gear oil, not a mill-brass grease diluted into the sump.
Indian mill groups — and every other cane industry — lose bearings when a multipurpose EP2 is fed because it was already on the trolley. EP2 is a rolling-bearing grease. A mill brass is a plain bearing in juice.
Spec the tests that match the failure
A useful TDS for this duty reports worked penetration (ASTM D217), dropping point (D2265) as a thickener screen only, four-ball weld and wear (D2596 / D2266), water washout (D1264), rust (D1743), and base-oil viscosity at 40 °C. Dropping point is not the running temperature of the brass. If the brass runs hot, the usual causes are starvation, the wrong viscosity, misalignment, or juice cutting the film — not a low drop point on paper.
Calcium sulfonate complex is in the conversation because the overbased sulfonate structure brings rust and load capacity with it, and published mill greases have used that chemistry specifically because juice and hot water do not wash it out the way a simple soap does. Aluminium complex remains common where spray and water resistance are already proven on that mill. Neither sentence is a recipe. The BOM, the solids level, and the supplier list are part of the engagement.
Related chemistry pages: calcium sulfonate complex, aluminium complex, and the comparison lithium vs CaSX vs polyurea.
The crush is when you find out the grease was wrong
A sugar campaign does not pause for a relubrication trial. Qualify the grease before the crush: pump it on the actual lubricator, at the line length and the night-time temperature of that mill, and watch brass temperature and consumption for a shift — not a laboratory penetration alone. A grease that looks right in a beaker and will not prime a long line is a failed product.
Lubechem formulates for the mill. We do not operate a toll-blending plant and we do not claim a consumption saving we have not measured on that tandem.
What this page is standing on
Public patents and papers cited as field references. Lubechem does not own these inventions and this page is not a formula.
- ASTM D217, D2265, D2266, D2596, D1264, D1743 — Penetration, drop point, wear, weld, water washout, rust. The TDS should name the method, not a marketing adjective.
- ISO 9950 is not this product — Cooling-curve standards belong to quench oil. A mill grease is judged on film, washout and pumpability.
- Public mill-grease literature — Commercial sugar-mill grades from specialist suppliers describe NLGI 0/1, high-viscosity oil, and juice resistance. Those sheets are competitors’ products, not Lubechem formulas.
Sugar mill grease questions
Is EP2 grease acceptable on a mill brass?
Usually no. EP2 is an NLGI 2 rolling-bearing grease. A crusher journal wants a softer grade, a much heavier oil, and explicit water and juice resistance.
Can the same grease lubricate the crown wheel?
Treat them as two products. The gear wants tack and often a sprayable open-gear compound. The brass wants a film that survives juice without running the bearing hot.
Which thickener is mandatory?
None. Aluminium complex and calcium sulfonate complex are both used on this duty. The choice follows pumpability, water, and what is already in the lines. Purge before you mix families.
Send the mill’s lubricator, the brass temperature, and the current TDS
A formulation brief is the duty and the failure, not a request to copy a competitor’s grease.
Start a mill-grease brief →