Increase Oil Skimming Efficiency with the Free-Floating Tube Skimmer

Oil Skimmers, Inc. helps remove waste oil for a biodiesel plant, increasing the efficiency of their processing operation.

Oil and water don't mix, efficiency and profits often do. While the oil and water adage is well known to biodiesel producers, it means feedstock is contaminated with water, it also offers an opportunity. Biodiesel plant personnel are always looking for new tools and equipment that help a facility operate more efficiently. Oily water is a major hurdle to efficient processing operation. Water has several purposes in the biodiesel production process, including equipment cooling and the wash process. Therefore, water often picks up oil or grease from equipment and feedstocks. Regardless of whether the facility reuses the water or sends it to a municipal treatment plant, the oil must be removed. Many producers aren't properly equipped to do so efficiently. Oil skimmer technology presents a possible low-cost solution. Oil skimmers are used in a wide variety of industries, including biodiesel and steel production, food processing and wastewater treatment. The equipment continuously removes oil from the surface of the water using a simple process. Essentially, the equipment circulates a continuous loop of tubing across two pulleys. One pulley grasps the tube and feeds it onto the surface of the oily water. As it skims across the water's surface the tube attracts the oil as it breaks the water's surface tension. The tube skims the oil off the water before returning to the second pulley, which feeds the tube across two scrapers that pull the oil from the tube's surface. The oil is deposited into a container for removal and the freshly cleaned tube travels across the first pulley and back onto the water. The skimming action provides the equipment its name and its many benefits.

Using a Model 6V Oil Skimmer, a polyvinyl resins plant discovers a way to meet state standards for oil levels in wastewater while also profiting off the sale of the recovered waste oil.

Plant has Cleaner Discharge and Resells Oil

A polyvinyl chloride resins plant uses oil in the polymerization process. Previously, the oil was discharged into the plant wastewater, causing the wastewater to exceed state limits; this could mean a $53,000-per-day fine. To avoid the fine, the plant was metering its discharge from a sump into the public water system in smaller amounts ½ a costly and inefficient answer. The plant, which produces 185,000 pounds of resins each year, needed a way to separate and remove the oil from its wastewater. To meet safety, cost, and efficiency goals, the plant needed a solution that could run without an operator and be installed without reconfiguring the current wastewater collection and discharge system. The Model 6V Oil Skimmer helped them meet limits for oil in wastewater while also providing additional profit in the form of reselling the recovered oil.

A chicken processing plant finds a revenue source when they install several Model 6V Oil Skimmers to recover used cooking oil from their wastewater.

Brakebush Brothers, a family owned manufacturer of frozen, cooked chicken products, runs its plant 24-hours a day on three shifts; two for production and one for cleaning. During the production shifts, the company uses cooking oil in the processing of the chicken. The oil is then washed off of various types of machinery, and ends up in the plant wastewater. Two Model 6V Oil Skimmers were installed and enabled Brakebush Brothers to eliminate the need for additional chemicals to treat the effects of oil in wastewater, reduce the volume of solid waste removed from wastewater, and create a new revenue stream by selling used cooking oil to a biofuel producer.

Oil Skimmers, Inc., Solves a Vexing Dermatitis Problem in a Machining Shop

United Foundries, Inc., a machine shop, had a dermatitis problem caused by bacteria- rich grinder water. Grinders leaking oil during the grinding process were the gnawing bacteria's food source, and the bacterial growth rate increased as the food source (the oil) increased. The smallest cut or abrasion on the hand or arm of a grinding operator exposed to the contaminated oil/water mix became the perfect route for bacteria to enter and cause dermatitis. United Foundries, Inc. purchased a cart-mounted Model 6V Oil Skimmer to remove oil from four grinders in the Canton, Ohio machine shop, and the dermatitis problem was solved by the consistent oil removal. The used oil removed from each grinder is collected in drums and then picked up by a local recycling company.

Environmentally-Friendly Cogeneration Plant Saves Time and Money with an Oil Skimmer

Brooklyn Navy Yard Cogeneration Partners L.P. is a 286-megawatt power plant. They have a waste stream that includes oily water waste that is sent to a sump, where the oil separates to the surface of the water due to specific gravity and surface tension. While the liquid was pumped to an oil/water separator, the floating oil remained in the sump. As dirt and other particles combined with the oil, it became sediment that sank to the bottom of the sump and was pumped through the oil/water separators. This sludge became trapped inside piping and within the oil/water separator. The plant was investing in in-plant personnel time and outside contractors to keep their hydrocarbon levels in compliance with the EPA�s requirements; this was costly and time-consuming. A Model 6V Oil Skimmer was installed, and there was an immediate reduction of hydrocarbons in the wastewater. Less than 20 months after the installation, Brooklyn Naval Yard saw a decrease in maintenance costs upwards of $40,000 annually.

Oil Skimmers, Inc. Solves Environmental Concerns for Heavy Equipment, Maintenance, and Washdown Facilities

Beckwith Machinery Company of Murraysville, Pennsylvania is one of the largest Caterpillar dealers in America. Its Cranberry, Pennsylvania facility runs a large rental business and when the machines are returned, many are loaded with mud, grease, and oil. Washing the machines causes oil to mix with the wastewater, which must be removed before the water can be sent to the city sewer system. A Model 6V Oil Skimmer removes the oil from the water so that the water meets EPA and Federal regulations for wastewater. The oil collected, about 465 gallons each month, is recycled.

Oil Skimmers, Inc. Solves Waste Oil Problems Quickly and Easily

Two plants, owned by Mittal Steel Corporation, produced large amounts of oily wastewater daily in their steel operations. Each plant needed to separate the oil from the wastewater both to meet disposal requirements and to maintain the efficiency of their wastewater collection and treatment systems. By installing a Model 6V Oil Skimmer, each plant was able to meet disposal requirements, maintain the efficiency of their wastewater systems, and create a new revenue stream by reselling the recovered oil to a recycling group.

Benefits of using an oil skimmer:

Improved product quality
When washing or machining parts, tramp oil will get into the wash water or coolant solution. Since this solution is re-used, the oil must be removed so it is not deposited onto the parts, which could hinder the finishing process and mar the product surface.

Increased production efficiency
Continually removing oil from process fluids increases the life of the fluids, which reduces recharging, disposal, and maintenance costs, and the water bill.

Addressing environmental concerns
Oil skimmers are great for primary treatment of wastewater prior to discharging into a public sewer or waterway. They can also allow for re-use of wash water, which conserves water.

Skimmed oils can have value (for re-use or resale)
Recovered oils can be re-used in the manufacturing or sold to bio-diesel manufacturers, other manufacturing processes, or rendering plants.