"Learn about the benefits of sustainable lubricants like SEW-EURODRIVE's GearFluid, and how they can help your business meet environmental impact goals”

• Sustainable lubricants are made from biodegradable materials, helping businesses to reduce their environmental impact
• By switching to eco-friendly lubricants, businesses can ensure regulatory compliance, whilst still extending the service life of machinery equipment
• Sustainable lubricants such as SEW-EURODRIVE's GearFluid, are made from biodegradable materials, minimising carbon footprint

Sustainable lubricants offer a variety of benefits, ranging from a reduced impact on the environment, to an extended service life.

With regulations such as the European Union’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) calling for greater use of bio-based lubricants, it’s important that those in the manufacturing and processing industries make the effort to implement these new practices into their operations.

Here at SEW-EURODRIVE, we’re always looking to evolve our offering to customers, and help them meet new industry standards, having developed the eco-friendly lubricant, GearFluid.

To explain the positive impact that sustainable lubricants could have on your operations, we’re taking a look at the benefits of switching to greener products.

What are the biggest benefits of sustainable lubricants?

If you decide to switch to eco-friendly lubricants in your processing environment or production line, you can expect the following benefits:

• Reduced carbon dioxide emissions: Sustainable lubricants are manufactured with less CO2 emissions compared with conventional polyglycol based oils, meeting carbon reduction goals.
• Use of organic materials: Eco-friendly lubricants are made from naturally occurring biomass, and don’t use any fossil fuels, helping with sustainability goals.
• High biodegradability: The use of organic materials makes sustainable lubricants quickly biodegradable, further reducing their impact on the environment.
• Longer service life: Compared to conventional polyglycol oils, some sustainable lubricants have a longer service life, with less oil changes needed in the gear units.
• High efficiency: Eco-friendly lubricants have higher efficiency compared to mineral oils, reducing energy consumption and operating costs.

Where can you use sustainable lubricants?

Just like other lubricants, sustainable lubricants can be used across a variety of gear units, whether they’re standard, servo, or industrial.

This means eco-friendly lubricants can be used in a variety of applications, ranging from airport baggage handling systems to automotive production.

What’s more, the biodegradable properties of sustainable lubricants mean they can also be used in environmentally sensitive areas.

What kind of sustainable lubricants does SEW-EURODRIVE offer?

At SEW-EURODRIVE, we’ve developed GearFluid, a product within our portfolio of premium lubricants.

GearFluid, which is manufactured from sustainable biomass (bio-waste and food-waste), has all the same benefits listed above, and is easily biodegradable according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) test 301 B.

The lubricant, in comparison with conventional polyglycol oils, doesn’t involve the consumption of any fossil fuels, reducing its carbon footprint by 84%.

Additionally, when compared to other conventional biodegradable oils, GearFluid extends the interval between lubricant changes by up to 300%, with no limitations on the use of different oil seals and sealing materials either.

Speaking about GearFluid, which Gatwick Airport has recently adopted in its operations, area sales manager for London and the South East, Piers Todd, said: “I took a leading role in Gatwick Airport’s decision to introduce GearFluid as a site standard. As well as helping them towards sustainability targets, knowing that it makes a real difference to the environmental impact of their operations is really satisfying.”

Stevie Summers, senior engineering manager, at London Gatwick, said: “We’ve used MOVIGEAR® drives at London Gatwick for nearly 15 years now and have had positive experiences with SEW products.

“We are working to make sustainability part of everything we do at London Gatwick and the benefits of GearFluid are clear. We’re proud to be one of the first to roll-out GearFluid, and we’re looking forward to seeing the benefits over the next few years as we implement our Decade of Change, where we are working to be net-zero for our own emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 2030.”

If you’d like to reduce your carbon footprint and meet your sustainability goals, please contact our friendly team, and we’ll help you with the smooth implementation of GearFluid.