Food Express, Inc. has been specializing in the transport of food-grade products for 27 years, and they pride themselves on providing the best customer service in the business. With several locations and equipment stationed throughout the Northwest, they have the flexibility needed to meet the needs of bulk-product shippers throughout the United States.
In addition to their transportation services, Food Express also operates a food-grade tank-washing facility in Vancouver, Washington. Recently, a customer required the washing of food-grade oil tankers. The resulting wastewater was contaminated with oil. The City of Vancouver required Food Express to treat their wastewater to meet municipal regulations or risk being shut down.
While searching the web for solutions to the recovery of his waste oil, Food Express President Walt Keeney came across Oil Skimmers, Inc., a company that has been manufacturing floating tube-type oil skimmers for over 40 years. Mr. Keeney was familiar with wastewater treatment and knew that an oil skimming system from Oil Skimmers, Inc. could be the perfect solution.
These cost-efficient and effective oil skimmers have a specially formulated, closed-loop tube that floats on the surface of liquid and attracts oil, which adheres to the outside of the tube. The oil-covered tube is continuously drawn up into the skimmer, where scrapers remove the waste oil, which drains into a containment drum or other vessel. Oil skimming systems, such as the Model 6V or the Model 5H from Oil Skimmers, Inc., can be customized to meet customer specifications, including mounting systems for all types of sumps, ponds, or tanks. Portable oil skimming systems are also available.
Mr. Keeney designed and built his own aluminum separation and holding tank, which has a capacity of 2,500 gallons, and attached a Model 5H Oil Skimmer using a pre-fabricated mounting system created by Oil Skimmers. The skimmer removes about 200 gallons of oil per week, but this amount varies based on the number of oil tankers that they service. The solid waste is also removed from the tank, after it settles to the bottom.
“It’s an excellent piece of equipment as far as we’re concerned,” Mr. Keeney says of the Model 5H Oil Skimmer. After the installation, “the waste stream has an almost non-detect when we do analysis, which means there is no detectable oil in the water, even when we run hard all day doing oil tankers and dry bulk flour and starch trailers.”
An additional benefit is the revenue that Food Express makes by recycling the recovered oil and selling it to a farmer who works in the biodiesel industry. This also saves the oil from ending up in a landfill, which allows Food Express to have a more environmentally friendly operation.
Mr. Keeney called the Model 5H Oil Skimmer a perfect solution for his company’s waste oil removal.
“We’re happy, the City of Vancouver is happy – it’s a win-win situation.”
