Schenectady Chemicals Canada Ltd. Reduces Wastewater Treatment Costs Using Abanaki Oil Separation Technology
A Model 8 Oil Grabber Success Story
Oil skimming is a simple, dependable, and effective means of oil separation from water and other fluids. Unlike other technologies, it offers users the potential for major cost savings. At Schenectady Chemicals Canada, Ltd., plant manager Fred Soukereff estimates that his company has saved $5,000 annually by using an industrial oil skimmer instead of former methods of waste removal and oil separation. “The real saving, however, is in the fact that we have a much cleaner plant effluent discharge,” he points out.
The individual designs employed in oil skimmers may vary widely, but all oil skimming devices rely on two well-known scientific principles: specific gravity and surface tension. Oil is lighter than water, so it floats to the surface. Floating oil clings to materials more readily than water, so it can be picked up by passing a belt or pick up media through the surface. Oily material adheres to the media and is removed, while water runs off.
Schenectady selected an Abanaki Oil Grabber Model 8 Skimmer for its Toronto, Ontario plant. The unit, installed outside the plant inside its own enclosure, operates with an 8-inch wide, 13-foot corrosion resistant stainless-steel belt. It operates 24-hours per day, seven days a week, and one maintenance operator monitors the operation on a routine basis. The skimmer’s endless stainless-steel belt drops down into the sump about five feet to ensure that it is always working even if the water level fluctuates. The belt lifts skimmed material about eight feet for disposal in a 2000-gallon tank.
The Abanaki system is capable of skimming solvents, resins, and oils. Results, to date, have been impressive. Schenectady’s wastewater discharge meets Toronto municipal bylaw standards for ratios of oil to water, measured in parts per million. The new Toronto standards limit the discharge of mineral oil to 15ppm, and natural oil and grease to 150ppm.
Soukereff talks about the operation in more detail, saying “we use a two-stage interceptor system to separate any oils and solvents in our wastewater. Prior to the installation of the Abanaki skimmer, this interceptor had to be cleaned out annually, at considerable cost. The high costs were partially due to the premium we had to pay for the water content of the mixture.”
Oil Separation Technology Makes for a Cost-Cutting Pollution Solution
Schenectady deals with a mixture of solvents, resin, and oil/ water interface, so they were initially skeptical as to whether an oil skimmer would work for them. During a trial period, test strips of the stainless-steel belt material did appear to pick up some of the solvent. Attracted to the ease of installation and the reasonable cost of the skimmer, Schenectady decided to try a unit with a 6-foot belt.
The results were encouraging, says Soukereff. “We found that the belt picked up the solvent and the interface readily, and kept the interceptor relatively free of the solvent resin layer. Once we found that the skimmer worked, we installed a more permanent and winterized system with a longer belt. It has been in routine service since March 1991, with little problem.”
When asked about where they found Abanaki, Soukereff says “it was a trade magazine article that caught my attention. It discussed how oily waste could be removed from water using an oil skimmer. That’s how we came in contact with Abanaki.”
Oil Grabber® Model 8 Oil Skimmer
According to Abanaki, leading manufacturer of oil skimmers worldwide, the cost savings experience at Schenectady wasn’t all that rare. Skimming is a simple, effective means of removing floating oils and other hydrocarbons from fluids. Abanaki’s oil skimmers and related oil separation technologies are so easy to install, operate, and maintain that users often achieve savings based solely on decreased maintenance costs.
Other sources of savings result from the fact that a properly installed system provides quality oil-water separation, and can help assure compliance with environmental regulations. For some users, the important part is the ability to discharge water without further treatment, while for others, the important part is having to pay only for the disposal of the actual contaminants instead of a much larger volume of contaminated wastewater.
