Transportation

Ambar services the major auto manufactures and facilities where tramp oils exist in wash stations, stamping and waste water area of the plant.  In addition Oil Mop skimmers have recently supplied several skimmers to many large hydrocarbon transporters.  The application exists in the wash down waste water sump.  After tanks of the trucks are washed out, all of the wash water travels to a common sump.  An Oil Mop skimmer is placed above the sump and the mop routed to achieve the most effective recovery.  In some cases a small tail roller can be used to direct the mop to the area where grease and oil collect.
Barracuda2 Barracuda2

Situation:

Initial DSI Transports, Inc. is the fifth largest trucking company in the United States specializing in chemical and hydrocarbon transportation.  Upon completion of each delivery, all DSI trucks are thoroughly washed of any chemicals or hydrocarbons to avoid any future contamination with other products.  Any run-off from this process, which may include wash water from wash rack or diesel racks, is collected in a centralized wash water sump located on site.

Complication:

Once collected in the wash water sump, the DSI terminal in Sulphur, Louisiana was faced with a disposal problem.  In order to drain the collected wash water into the sewer system, the EPA required that the oil and grease content be at or below 2 mg /L.  Initial concentrations were in excess of 85 mg/L.  Another option DSI considered was disposal through waste oil recyclers.  However, the high cost associated with the large percentage of water mixed with the oil made this option unacceptable.

DSI then installed a water treatment system to get the oil and grease content to acceptable levels for drainage into the sewer system.  Once installed, oil and grease content dropped nearly 90%.  Unfortunately, this concentration was nearly 4 times that allowed for drainage into the sewer system.

Solution:

DSI then contacted Ambar Environmental Products to inquire about any solutions we had to offer.  Based on the location and size of the wash water sump and the amount of oil present, Ambar suggested the standard Sparrowhawk 2 skimmer to Initial DSI Transports.  Figure 1 illustrates some of the details of this application.  No modification of the skimmer was required and installation was performed by the customer.

A final test was performed shortly after installing the S2 and revealed an oil and grease concentration below the EPA required 2 mg/L.  In addition to now being able to discharge the water in to the sewer, DSI is also able to recycle the recovered oil because of the low (less than 5%) water content in the recovered product.

Since its installation in August of 1997, the unit has been maintenance free with the exception of the replacement of the 15' section of 3" Belt Mop in January of 1999.  Because DSI was able to reduce the concentration of free oil, they were able to avoid waste oil recycling costs, reduce overall disposal costs and have avoided the high costs associated with Notice of Violation citations from the EPA.