search this site
ORGANOCLAY SAVES MONEY
CASE STUDIES
Cost/Savings example
Assume a water stream with 10 ppm of oil, 30 gpm flow, running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You need to remove 5 ppm BTEX. The carbon is changed 7 times a year to remove the BTEX (or bring the COD/BOD into compliance with discharge regulations).
The amount of media used is 35.71 ft3, GAC weights 30 lb/ft3: Regenerated carbon costs $0.85/lb. Replacing 1,071.3 lb. of carbon seven times per year, amounts to 7,499.1 lbs. of carbon, at a cost of $6,374.24.
7,499.1 lbs. of carbon plus 7% of its weight absorbed in oil is 8,024 lbs.
Labor cost for removal: $0.90/lb or $7,221.60 per year.
Total cost for using carbon alone: $13,595.84 per year.
Add an extra tank of EC-100 Organoclay.
2,000 lb. EC-100 @ $1.60/lb: $3,200/year for 1 replacement.
Labor for one changeout of 3,200 lbs spent Organoclay (2,000 lbs. of Organoclay plus 1,200 lbs. of retained contaminants): $0.90 x 3,200 = $2,880.
Disposal cost of 3,200 lbs of spent clay @ $0.25/lb: $800.
Cost savings per year by pre-filtering with EC-100 Organoclay: $6,715.84/year.
Helping Fabricators meet Discharge Limits
Three fabricators, that are not connected to sewer lines, have to meet discharge limits for oil and grease of 5 ppm before discharging to surface water. All three pressure wash tubing to remove light oil. One facility cleans finished product (storage cabinets). The water passes through a 10 micron filter bag, followed by a drum of EC-100 Organoclay at ¼ gal. per minute. The concentration of the inflow is 30-50 ppm oil and grease. The outflow meets discharge standards and the drums last about a year.
A unique and proven waste water treatment system is being used at several natural gas compressor stations.
Oil leakage and spills from servicing compressors together with maintenance wash down water are being satisfactorily treated with oil removal systems. These systems consist of a wastewater holding tank with an oil drain off valve, a coalescing oil/water separator fitted with an oil skimming weir and an effluent holding tank and two tertiary polishing filters.
The first filter contains EC-100 Organoclay/anthracite media which has a very high affinity for sorption of oil and grease and other sparingly water soluble contaminants. The effluent from the first filter then flows through a GAC (granular activated carbon) filter to remove the more soluble "light ends" before discharge.
Routine system maintenance is minimal and the filter medias have provided excellent bed life. The media lasts longer than one year. Effluent quality is low to non-detect, allowing re-circulation of the water if desired.
OIL FIELD PRODUCED WATER
An oil field producing water containing 500 ppm of residual oil is being disposed in a water injection well in central Michigan. Approximately 3,500 barrels of water per day are being injected . Severe plugging of the formation is caused by the residual oil build up at the formation face. Loss of permeability causes a drastic reduction in the water injection rate. Constant produced water disposal is essential to maintaining oil production.
Pharmaceutical Industry Benefits
A New York manufacturer of pharmaceutical products, such as creams and ointments, is required to clean its equipment daily with soap and hot water. The waste water is collected in a grease trap separator, from which it passes into a sump pit where a surface oil skimmer removes any floating oil and grease. This waste water then passes through an oil magnet filter prior to discharge into the New York City sewer.
The New York City regulations stipulate a discharge level of no more than 50 ppm petroleum hydrocarbons, a level frequently exceeded by the laboratory. The oil phase consists of white petroleum, stearic acid, fatty acid stearates, fatty alcohols, mineral oils and oxyethylene ethers and stearates, which are emulsified. The concentration of emulsified oil ranges from 5 to 400 ppm. Average daily discharge is 3,110 gallons. Two trains of carbon canisters were set up in parallel. The lead unit in each canister contains 350 lbs. of EC-100 Organoclay, followed by a 190 lb. blend containing bituminous and coconut shell activated carbon.
Approximately 250,00 gallons of waste water have already passed through the above system with no hydrocarbons being revealed in the test results.
The biggest advantage is that the company achieved these excellent results by installing an $8,000 filtration system using organically modified clay and activated carbon. This was an 80% savings over the $40,000 ultrafiltration system that had initially been considered, thereby lowering the company’s capitalization costs by at least $32,000.
The second advantage is that the changeout of the filtration media is expected to be once a year.
Back to Project Summaries | Back to Filters & Media
