Waste Oil Recovery

Oils, whether they be mineral or vegetable will eventually become contaminated by the processes they are used in. This is a problem because the contaminated oils must be removed and replaced with fresh oil. The contaminated oil is either collected and taken to a treatment plant or treated at source in the plant concerned. Either way some treatment is required to salvage as much useable oil as possible, and to reduce the contaminated solids to as small a volume as possible for onward disposal.

The primary objective in any recycling process is clarification or solids removal. There are various methods that can be employed to do this. If there is heavy contamination the oil, solids and water form a mixture that can only be separated by the use of heat and the application of centrifugal force.

Centri-Force are experts in the use of high speed industrial centrifuges for clarification of a variety of solid / liquid suspensions, for example waste oil, both mineral and vegetable and the treatment processes are very similar.

We also supply the necessary Heat Exchangers to complete the treatment package. These can either be Plate Heat Exchangers or Tubular Heat Exchangers (sometimes known as Tube and Shell Heat Exchangers) depending on the nature of the product and the characteristics of the solids, eg size and density. The process comprises an initial screening to remove debris and coarse particles. The oil is then heated and kept agitated in a holding tank before it is pumped through a Decanter Centrifuge.

The picture shows a typical skid mounted Decanter Centrifuge with control panel. The only other equipment required is a chemical dosing system, if chemicals are required, and a pump to deliver the oil to the centrifuge. Sometimes a macerator is also included in the process to prevent pump blockage, but this depends on the nature of the contamination. All of this equipment is easy to operate and runs continuously without supervision. There is no need for complex installations and the whole process can be up and running in a few weeks. Centri-Force supply a complete range of factory refurbished centrifuges from leading manufacturers that are a cost effective solution ideal for this application. The application itself is now well proven and has been shown to be non aggressive, resulting in low servicing costs and good durability.

A typical maintenance cost is less than 5% per annum of the capital cost.

We can design and build plants to deal with a wide range of capacities and since we have no particular allegiance to any particular manufacturer we are happy to supply according to customer demand or alternatively we will make our own recommendation based on our experience.

The answer depends on the nature of your problem and understanding the options that are available. We can certainly advise on the options and we know that for many plants investment in this technology will yield a rapid pay back. The treatment process saves money and produces a higher value oil. It allows for rapid treatment of high volumes of oil and employs methods that are not labour intensive. Any waste sludge produced is minimised by the process which results in a substantial reduction in disposal costs.

The Decanter will remove the bulk of the solids. The next step in the process is to remove the remaining solids by pumping the oil from the Decanter to a High Speed Disc Stack Separator which is a different type of Centrifuge. This is the final polishing stage to remove the very fine solids and any water that may be present. This is known as a Three Phase Separation i.e. purified oil, solids and water.