Lubrication oil is used within a wide variety of industries for keeping operating plant and machinery including engines, bearings and turbines constantly lubricated and to ensure the cooling of all working parts. Lubrication oil pumps can be categorised into two main areas; firstly they can refer to pumps used to transfer volumes of lubricants to and from storage tanks, barrels or IBCs. Alternatively, they may mean actual lubrication pumps, where they are used to circulate lubricants around a system to ensure the machinery/equipment at hand remains lubricated.
Screw pumps are usually selected as lube oil circulation pumps as they are positive displacement and therefore can handle a wide variety of viscosities which can often change depending on temperature making a centrifugal pump unsuitable. Viscosity changes in fluids affects centrifugal pumps performance far more than a positive displacement pump which is why screw pumps are the ideal choice for lube oil and lubrication applications. However when fuels are transferred (such as diesel when the viscosity is close to water) a centrifugal pump can be chosen as high flow rates can be achieved at low discharge pressures.
