Exol Lubricants invest in a new high-tech Kirton Water Treatment System
Exol Lubricants is the largest independent lubricants company in the UK. Manufacturing and supplying a range of lubricants and associated products to automotive, commercial, agricultural and industrial sectors. Manufacturing and supplying products from their two sites in Birmingham and Rotherham.
They have recently introduced a new water and oil treatment system at their Blending Plant in Rotherham and it is producing excellent results. Crystal clear water is recycled or discharged to sewer after all contaminates are removed.
Unfortunately it is inevitable that oil is spilt on the floor when processing oil and it must be removed before discharge to sewer. Exol Lubricants started developing a new system in conjunction with Kirton Engineering two years ago as the water treatment process at that time was labour, chemical and energy intensive. Exol Lubricant’s objective was to develop a water treatment plant that was fully automatic, energy efficient, reduced the need for chemicals and improved the quality of water being discharged to sewer.
It is widely known within the water treatment world that removing oil from water is very difficult. Luckily Exol Lubricants asked the help of Kirton Engineering, a well-respected company in the water purification industry.
The new system which has recently been commissioned removes the majority of oil from the water using an oil separator. The semi clean water then passes through a novel technology called electro-coagulation. Electro-coagulation consists of multiple pairs of metal parallel plate electrodes separated by a few millimetres and are arranged so that the water to be treated flows through the plates. This removes suspended solids, emulsified oils and heavy metals ions. The clean water is then discharged to sewer or recycled.
Oil and Water Separator
Yorkshire Water charge Exol Lubricants a fee depending on the water quality. Two parameters are used; COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) and Settleable Solids. The lower the figures the lower the effluent charge. With the new system Exol has seen a reduction in COD and Settleable Solids of 45% and 56% respectively. This will considerably reduce trade effluent charges. To further reduce their effluent costs they are also able to recycle the water and use it to clean the floor or wash their vehicles. They have also been able to re-direct manpower to production therefore concentrating on more value added activities as the system is fully automatic running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Clean water after being processed.
Investing in a water and oil treatment system may not seem the first priority for capital investment but Exol Lubricants has seen large cost savings in manpower and effluent costs resulting in a return on investment of 18 months. Exol Lubricants care, and moving forward with the new system will considerably improve their environmental impact.
Jonathan Hoole Operations Director, Exol Lubricants
LINK
www.exol-lubricants.com
18
LUBE MAGAZINE No.111 OCTOBER 2012
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