Grease Oil Skimmer Conquers Demanding Interceptor Pit
Abanaki’s tough-built Grease Grabber Oil Skimmer
North Star Steel, (now Vallourec) a seamless pipe mini-mill in Youngstown, Ohio, needed a cost-effective, low maintenance solution to the oil and grease contamination in their facility. The biggest problem areas were their descaling water system and the sand beds filtering that circulating water.
During a regular operating day, up to 100 gallons of oil and grease from open gears, drive chains, bearings and other sources gets washed into wastewater flumes. These flumes carry water to concrete descaling pits located below grade and upstream of the sand beds at a rate of about 10,000 gallons per minute.
Over the years, Dave Giancola, plant maintenance engineer at North Star Steel, has tried floating booms, floating suction (pump) skimmers and moving media in the form of tubes and mops to remove the oil and grease – all with little success.
Grease Grabber Oil Skimmer Removes Hydrocarbons from Interceptor Pit
Giancola eventually turned to Abanaki Corporation in Chagrin Falls, Ohio for a solution. After our team analyzed the situation, an Abanaki Grease Grabber® oil skimmer was recommended and tested at North Star Steel. The Grease Grabber makes use of the differences in specific gravity and surface tension between oil and water, which allows the skimmers’ continuously moving belt to attract grease, oil and other hydrocarbons. It was easily installed on the catwalk at the edge of the mill’s final interceptor pit, and is capable of operating even in turbulent conditions.
According to Giancola, “At first, our personnel were skeptical that the Grease Grabber’s smooth belt could really pick up oil and grease. However, it wasn’t long before they were seeing it remove 400 – 500 gallons of oil and grease a week from the interceptor pit.”
As of late, their only maintenance requirements have been routinely cleaning the wiper blades on the oil skimmer, a procedure that takes about 20 minutes a month.
