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Model 8 Oil Grabber®
Removes Small Amounts of Oil from Plant Drain Water
Head pulley drives belt without interfering with removal of oil from
both sides of belt. |
Problem: Worldwide, Reichhold Chemical Corp. produces
some 5600 products. At St. Helens, Ore., they produce three -urea, ammonium nitrate and
ammonia. Plant drain water is discharged into the Columbia River, and although oily
residues are minuscule because of a concerted program to keep oil off the floors, some is
present - drippage from ammonia compressors, vehicles and machine maintenance chores.
Although the amount of oil in drain and stormwater is not high, both plant and
regulatory officials want as close to zero discharge of oils as possible. Removing a
minute concentration of oil effectively is a challenge, however.
Solution: All plant drainage, washdown and storm waters are channeled
through floor and street drains into a two-compartment API settling chamber which is also
used for collecting other oily residues at the plant such as crankcase oil. The oil is
given time to rise in a sump, and is periodically drawn off by an 8" wide stainless
steel belt at a rate of 32 gal/hr. Wiper blades continuously remove oil from both sides of
the belt. Oil is then transferred to a holding tank.
A second skimmer is used in a sump that drains only the urea plant. Here, process water
is cleaned of oil by the skimmer, then reclaimed in a steam stripping concentrator for
reuse. Again, the volume of drippage oil that gets onto floors is small. During heavy
rains, runoff into this sump can be diverted to the API channel for further treatment.
Results: Skimmers fill a need for effectively removing small amounts
of oil from drain water. Only a few gallons are collected every two months from this
source - but zero oily discharge makes Reichhold a good neighbor in an environmentally
conscious neighborhood. Skimmers require little maintenance time compared with the
alternative route of constructing plant-made hose or belt skimmers.
Published in Chemical Processing Magazine
Learn more about Oil Grabber Model 8. See
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