LIQUI MOLY in Germany has been awarded the Partslife environmental prize for its resource-friendly techniques related to producing premium quality motor oils. Partslife is a combination of manufacturers and commerce that assist workshops with waste disposal.
Partslife has given LIQUI MOLY the award for its new oil factory pigging technique. When producing motor, transmission and other oils, all the pipes have to be cleaned before another oil can be bottled. A pig is a cleaning device that is pushed through the pipes under pressure, clearing out any remaining oil.
“Our new pigging technique has significantly reduced the amount of flushing oil we need to use and the amount of time it takes,” explained LIQUI MOLY environmental manger, Jörg Paul. “Previously we needed between 100 kg and 350 kg of flushing oil for each flushing process. Thanks to this new technique we now only need 30 kg,” said Paul. “Overall, annual quantities of flushing oil will fall by about 1,500 tonnes to a 10th of previous levels. The environment benefits from this reduced consumption of raw materials. “The award acknowledges our commitment to protecting the environment to the best of our ability.”
This new pigging technique is just part of a 20 million euro (approximately $22 million USD) modernization program that LIQUI MOLY is in the process of implementing across both its locations. LIQUI MOLY also won the Partslife environmental prize in 2014, for its new exhaust system in additive production.