How Kankakee Tank Wash Reduced Wastewater Disposal Costs by 40% and Stay Compliant
Continuous Belt Skimming Improved Oil Removal and Supported Ongoing Regulatory Compliance in Tank Washing Operations
Food-grade tank wash facilities face unique wastewater challenges. Oils, greases, vegetable fats, and animal fats removed during the cleaning process must be separated from wash water before discharge. At the same time, facilities must maintain strict sanitation standards while controlling operating costs.
Kankakee Tank Wash, located between Indianapolis and Chicago, services companies all over the US providing high quality interior washing of food-grade trailers. Their two-bay operation is certified as both a food grade wash station and a Kosher wash station, which means that Tim Ryan, president of Kankakee Tank Wash, regularly caters to haulers that switch their loads on return trips. “For example, a run bringing orange juice up from Florida often will carry milk back on the return trip,” explains Ryan. This means the company must “adhere to extremely stringent wash requirements in order to prevent cross-contamination of different cargo.”
General food industry standards require the inside of a tank be residue-free of any prior incompatible cargo. Kosher standards require the tanks be free of any cargo residue incompatible according to Orthodox Jewish dietary laws. And, of course, all food-grade tanks need to be kept free of all possible contaminants such as mold, bacteria and rust. Kankakee Tank Wash uses a computerized wash system that sits right inside the trailer to ensure thorough cleaning and rinsing even for hard-to-reach areas, like the top inner portions of tanks. With a small amount of manual preparation, the wash system computerizes the entire cycle, including a food-grade wash, a sanitized rinse, and a blow dry. It is even programmable to cleanse specific cargo loads.
The Problem: The wash station handles about 45 trailers a day over two shifts. The high level of business requires approximately 15,000 gallons of water per day. Increasingly stringent regulations governing food-grade tank washing, like the EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Act, require specific steps for the removal of vegetable oils, greases, and animal fats (FOGs, or fats, oils, and greases) from Kankakee’s wastewater stream. The local sanitary sewer system does not tolerate oily wastewater, which is a common challenge for tank washing facilities. Ryan inherited a system of chemical treatments when he came on the job, but quickly found the process too cost-prohibitive.
The Challenge: Managing Oily Wastewater in a High-Volume Food-Grade Tank Wash Facility
- Vegetable oils, animal fats, and greases entering the wastewater stream
- Local sewer requirements prohibiting oily wastewater discharge
- Increasing treatment and disposal costs
- An existing chemical treatment process that was expensive to operate
- Undersized wastewater equipment that required frequent maintenance and created downtime
- The need to support growing production volumes without increasing treatment costs
The Solution and Measurable Results: Abanaki Oil Skimmers Deliver Compliance and Cost Savings
Oil skimming makes use of the differences in specific gravity between oil and water to attract oil and other hydrocarbons from fluid surfaces, making it highly effective for facilities that need to process organic waste from wash water in a very efficient and cost-effective manner—like Kankakee. Looking for an efficient, cost-effective solution to his concerns about removing the FOGs from Kankakee’s wastewater, Ryan came across Abanaki in a trade magazine. Shortly thereafter, a salesperson came out to assess the facility and explain how a skimmer would be well suited to their unique situation.
“The folks at Abanaki were terrific,” Ryan explained. “They explained the basics, and they walked through the facility with us. Together, we decided on the best set up.”
Ryan first selected the Tote-It Portable Oil Skimmer, capable of removing about 12 gallons of oil per hour through continuous belt and wiper action. The Kankakee crew found that because of the skimmer’s size, it was remarkably easy to transfer from one bay to another with little maintenance required. As the operation grew however, Ryan asked Abanaki if they could recommend a larger unit to keep up with their increased capacity.
A Model 4 Oil Grabber, capable of removing up to 20 gallons of oil per hour was installed thereafter. Like the Tote-It, the Model 4 is ideal for applications like mobile equipment washing facilities where excess space is often at a premium. The Model 4 also utilizes a continuous belt and wiper to remove FOGs, often reducing oil content to less than five parts per million in water. The unit is mounted on the floor where both bays can drain into it. The belt, operating on a motor and pulley system, runs through contaminated liquid to pick up oil from the surface. After traveling over the head pulley, the belt passes through tandem wiper blades where oil is scraped off both sides of the belt and discharged into a 350-gallon tank. Once a week, the container is taken out via forklift to a roll-off dumpster and the contents are properly disposed of. “Abanaki has kept us in compliance,” Ryan explained, “and helped us save money, too. Our costs associated with removal and disposal run about 40% less than with the other methods we tried.”
Operational improvements and results included:
- Continuous removal of vegetable oils, animal fats, and grease from wastewater
- Reliable processing of wastewater from both wash bays with a single system
- Reduced maintenance requirements compared to the previous treatment method
- Elimination of downtime associated with undersized equipment and frequent repairs
- Improved wastewater management for a growing operation
- Simple operation with minimal maintenance requirements
- Approximately 40% lower removal and disposal costs compared to previous treatment methods
- Oil content often reduced to less than 5 parts per million (ppm) in treated water
- Up to 20 gallons of oil removed per hour with the Model 4 Oil Grabber
- Continuous operation since 2003 with no reported equipment breakdowns and no production downtime related to the skimming system
