Chicago, IL-based Daubert Chemical has completed a multi-million dollar, three-year plant expansion of its Chicago calcium sulfonate manufacturing plant, more than doubling its previous production capacity.
Manufacturers of greases, rust preventatives, metalworking fluids, and gear oil additives now have a strategic supplier centrally located in the U.S. Daubert supplies companies in the automotive, construction, defense, and transportation industries.
According to Daubert, its unique, proprietary process produces higher quality calcium sulfonate products with higher ratios of active material than commonly available. In addition, their calcium sulfonate precursors come pre-gelled, after undergoing a highly optimized crystallization process in Dauberts facilities. The company says that removing this step provides customers with a much simpler manufacturing process to create finished products, eliminating unnecessary risk and supply chain issues.
When a ready supply of gelled calcium sulfonate became disrupted in the early 2000s, Daubert was faced with a major decision: Wait until supplies stabilized (and deal with potentially higher costs), or make things happen by producing gelled sulfonates themselves. In choosing the latter, the company was not only able to meet its internal needs, but to also market a variety of gelled sulfonates to coating formulators. Additionally, they took the opportunity to carry forth its trademark SACI® (Severe Atmospheric Corrosion Inhibitor). Forming the basis of coatings for a variety of applications that include structural coatings and highly corrosive marine applications, SACI® products have been reborn with Dauberts readily available supply of calcium sulfonate.
Based on calcium sulfonate technology, in 2011, Daubert introduced its broad line up of TecPlex® precursor and finished greases. Featuring inherent extreme pressure (EP) and anti-wear properties along with compatibility in incidental food contact applications the TecPlex® lineup has grown steadily ever since. Today, the TecPlex® line includes general purpose mineral oi greases, an extreme pressure series for mining applications, a premium line with white oil and polyalphaolefin (PAO) varieties for expanded operating temperature ranges, and finally a line of NSF H1 greases and Hx1 precursors designed for incidental food contact applications (available with Kosher/Halal certifications).
