Tropical Coolants

Geographically tropics are the regions that receive more direct sunlight, and these regions are generally warmer compared to other regions. South American countries, most parts of Africa, India & Southeast Asia are considered to fall under the tropical region.

In such countries where the surrounding temperature (of the major region) does generally not fall below 0 °C, there is seldom a need for the Full MEG based Coolant which provides freeze protection down to -37 °C.

Coolants which do not contain a standard amount of glycol and are designed to provide freeze protection to suit tropical requirement are known as ‘Tropical Coolants’.

Tropical coolant formulations are cost-efficient and comparatively less hazardous to the standard coolants as the amount of MEG (or base fluid) is reduced to achieve the required freeze protection requirement. In case of tropical coolants, due to less amount of MEG, more additive can be accommodated to make the coolant ‘fit for higher dilutions. (e.g., instead of 1:2 or 1:3, one can make 1:10 dilution coolant also).

While designing tropical coolants, the amount of corrosion inhibitors is kept in line with the dosage in standard coolant to ensure effective corrosion protection in cooling system.

Tropical coolants can be formulated using super concentrate and some amount of MEG as follows:

The amount of MEG to be used is dependent on the freeze point requirements. The freeze point requirement can vary ranging from 0 °C to – 15 °C in general, so accordingly amount of MEG is adjusted.

As of today, there is no standard specification on a global level for tropical coolants. Also, since the amount of MEG used in the formulations is non-standard (less compared to normal coolants), claims like ASTM D 3306, JIS K 2234, BS 6580 can not be made on Tropical coolant. Nevertheless, most test methodologies like ASTM D1384 & ASTM D4340 can be used to evaluate the corrosion performance of Tropical coolants.

Milage / drain interval claims are dependent on the type of Inhibitor / Technology used in tropical coolants however such claims are often based on the historical experience of the technology provider with similar technology.

Presently many of the ‘Global Oil Companies” are marketing Tropical coolant under their brand name and we are supporting their requirements by providing tailor made solutions.