Innovation Anthology #12:
Chainsaws use a lot of oil for lubrication. In fact, as much as 8 litres per hour. But it only takes a litre of lubricant to Contaminate a million litres of water.
So the search is on to find more environment friendly alternatives that can still a good job.
Tom Kosik of the Alberta Research Council recently tested some bio-lubricants made from canola oil.
He ran poplar logs through a stationary chainsaw mill, monitoring the quantity and quality of the cuts, the amount of lubricant used and the overall wear and tear on the chain saw.
TK: We did a comparison of the bar and chain wear. What we did was we took the bar and we did some measurements of the cross-sections to determine the width of the bar prior to any cutting. Then we repeated all those measurements after all the cutting was completed. And what that gave us was a table of various specifications on the two chains and bars. you could see that the biolubricant actually produced less wear over the conventional lubricant. And you can visually see this as well on the chain.
Tom Kosik also found the chainsaw required about 9 percent less of the plant-based lubricant.
Thanks today to the Alberta Research Council.
FOR INNOVATION ANTHOLOGY, I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
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Alberta Research Council
Established as the first provincial research organization in Canada, the Alberta Research Council is 85 years old. The Alberta Research Council (ARC) develops and commercializes technologies to give customers a competitive advantage. A leader in innovation, ARC provides solutions globally to the energy, life sciences, agriculture, environment, forestry and manufacturing sectors.
ARC performs about five per cent of the roughly $1.5 billion in R&D done in Alberta each year, and generates revenues of approximately $84 million per year. ARC operates from five sites across the province in Edmonton, Calgary, Vegreville and Devon and employs more than 600 highly-skilled people.
In January 2010, under the new Alberta Innovation Framework, the Alberta Research Council was restructured and incorporated into the new provincial agency Alberta Innovates Technology Futures.
Program Date: 2007-02-22