![]() Today, most coolant suppliers have already introduced nitrite-free organic acid technology coolants into the market. “In regard to the aftermarket, we are seeing year-over-year diminishing reliance on conventional coolant, but I would say that is generally at 20% demand or less.” “The vast majority of equipment coming off the production lines today-I’m talking upward of 90% in the Americas-is using extended life coolant as factory fill,” said Angelo Macchia, Recochem’s product manager for coolants. More than 20 years after the introduction of ELCs with NOAT, engine manufacturers have a growing confidence in stand-alone OAT, and coolant suppliers are one step ahead of them, having decades of on-road experience with OAT coolant and already exceeding cavitation test benchmarks. To ensure cylinder liner protection, nitrite-free OAT coolants must minimally be shown to pass the ASTM D7583 Coolant Cavitation Test.” “To replace the performance of nitrite, other inhibitors need to be formulated into the coolant. “Nitrite is an excellent corrosion inhibitor,” agreed Colin Dilley, vice president of technology for the Prestone Products Group. Just as you want to make sure you protect your brand new army of tractors by purchasing insurance, OEMs requested that coolant manufacturers add nitrite into OAT-infused extended life coolants they did so, hence nitrited organic acid technology (NOAT) coolants. Let’s drop the acronyms for a minute for a quick point of clarification: Extended life coolants employ organic acid technology, which most coolant manufacturers, including those interviewed for this story, agree provides the proper cylinder protection alone. “When OATs were introduced,” Cook continued, “even though OAT lab studies showed they protected wet sleeve liners, OEMs were reluctant to give up having nitrites.” “The nitrites coat the cylinder walls and reduce this detrimental cavitation effect.” “The combustions inside of the cylinders cause the walls to vibrate, resulting in small vapor bubbles that then collapse on cylinder walls picking away at the metal,” added Dan Holdmeyer, Chevron’s North America industrial sector manager. Long before the development of Organic Acid Technology (OAT) or ELCs, nitrites were use to protect wet sleeve liners in heavy-duty engines from cavitation damage, recounted Frank Cook, chief technical officer for Old World Technologies. So come along as we clarify your coolant options. That plus the plethora of acronyms-IAT, HOAT, OAT, NOAT-and the fact that not all manufacturers follow the coolant color guidelines established by TMC, and there’s plenty of room for coolant confusion. Today, most fleets are running some sort of extended life coolant (ELC), but the chemistry of ELCs can vary wildly. Ensuring that your engines are running at optimum temperature to be as efficient as possible starts with filling with the proper coolant. ![]() Cooling systems can be a major culprit in causing catastrophic engine failures.
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