Texas Electric Cooperative’s Wood Preserving Division Maintains Environmental Integrity With Abanaki
Early in the 1940s, the electric cooperative in Texas formed Texas Electric Cooperative, Inc., an association created to supply activities associated with their goal of providing the low-cost electricity to rural areas of Texas. The Association and its divisions, as well as the cooperatives themselves, are owned by the people who receive their power from their individual cooperatives and all operate as a non-profit organization.
Quality by Design
Interested in supplying preserved utility poles for the construction of new lines for their rural customers, they purchased a wood preserving plant in Lufkin, Texas. This facility later closed in 1964, and a newer, modern facility was built at its present site in Jasper, Texas. Randy Dorman, Technical Services Manager of the Jasper facility explained, “our goal at this facility is to supply the member owners with the highest quality pole on the market while maintaining the lowest cost and the smallest environmental fingerprint that we can make. That is the Association’s goal for today and the future.”
Quality poles are selected by TEC’s professional foresters. Next, poles are cut and trucked to the facility where they are debarked, cut to length, framed, and preserved. Selected poles pass through a rigorous inspection process by both plant personnel and third-party inspection agents. Once they’re approved by all the inspectors, the poles are loaded onto trucks and shipped throughout Texas to the respective electric cooperatives.
Abanaki Provides a Solution
Prior to 1985, TEC used surface impoundments to treat their wastewater from the plant. However, because of EPA regulations, TEC had to abandon the use of these impoundments and start a state approved closure. The impoundments were closed in the early 1990s, and monitoring of various wells on the site indicated that the integrity of one of the earliest constructed impoundments had been compromised. During the monitoring phase, it was discovered that DNAPLs had appeared in one of the monitoring wells. DNAPLs are dense non-aqueous phase liquids, meaning that liquids present in the well had a higher specific gravity than water and thus remain at the bottom of the well. “TEC knew early on the material problems due to the type of product being recovered and lift problems due to the depth of the DNAPLs. The company worked with us diligently to resolve the problems in short order,” Dorman said.
Dorman chose the PetroXtractor well skimmer from Abanaki to aid in the remediation process– a popular choice for wastewater recycling in well applications. Features that supplement oil removal capacity include a bearing-less tail pulley design with a tethered frame to keep the belt centered, at the proper tension, and prevent accidental loss down in the well.
Abanaki worked with Dorman throughout the selection and installation process, making modifications to the PetroXtractor to ensure it would work optimally for TEC. First, its polymer belt was switched to a backed belt that wouldn’t stretch under the oil’s chemical properties. Next, weight was removed from the tail pulley and stainless-steel rods were added to keep the pulley close to the bottom of the well. A powerful motor was installed once it was determined that the faster speed would not emulsify oil. Later, the pulley material was also altered to resolve issues with chemical compatibility.
The skimmer has been in continuous operation at the treatment plant site since August 2000. The Treatment Division, which maintains stringent environmental standards throughout its operation, has been pleased with the PetroXractor’s performance. According to Dorman, “we have found that the equipment is almost maintenance free and has the capability to operate in the automatic mode.”
Abanaki may play a role in the Division’s future quality assurance plans.
“Currently we only have one system operating at this facility, since that was all that was required. However, we are considering the installation of five to seven of these units at a site that we had previously owned. The site is about 60 miles from our main facility, and we would only dedicate about six man-hours per week to it, mainly to monitor levels of product recovered. The easy installation and maintenance of the Abanaki skimmers will be especially important for such a remote site,” Dorman concluded.
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