Oil Skimmer Blog

Waste oil recovery is critical to any application for a multitude of reasons. Many companies try, or should being trying (tsk tsk if you’re not), to recover their used oil in order to stay in compliance with government standards and regulations. No one wants to pay a massive fine or even worse, donning the orange jump suit with silver bracelets, when simply complying with the law and keeping our environment clean is a simple enough task.

An environmental engineering firm was given the task of finding a cost-effective to solution to removing heavy gear oil and quench oil from the subsurface of an automotive manufacturing facility. Additionally, the firm needed to find a solution that did not need constant supervision and required as little maintenance and down time as possible. After mulling over a series of options, the US firm decided to use Abanaki’s PetroXtractor to complete the task.

When deciding on what oil skimmer is right for your application, there are many things that need to be considered and addressed before purchasing. Knowing what size skimmer to buy all depends on specifics of the application at hand. If you think buying the biggest skimmer available is the right choice because it will get the job done faster or buying the smallest skimmer will be more cost-effective, then you would be a fool. Don’t be a fool. Let us help you pick out the right size!

At Abanaki, we are constantly looking at what aspects of our products can be improved in order to provide our customers with the best possible oil removal option. We love getting feed back, good or bad, on how our skimmers are working in the field. We recently announced the new oil concentrator for our TubeTastic! tube skimmer to help increase the skimmer's efficiency levels and decrease disposal costs. However we were learning that for some of our customers with abrasive and harsh applications, the tube skimmer wasn't able to hold it's own. So we went back to the drawing board to find a solution.

Under most operating conditions, Abanaki’s TubeTastic! picks up oil with only small traces of water or coolant. However, as surface oil is reduced to a thin layer (1/16 inch thick or less), more water (or coolant) may be picked up along with the oil. When used in tandem with the TubeTastic, the Oil Concentrator solves this problem by providing final phase separation. The result is water (or coolant) available for recycling, and virtually water-free oil for disposal.

Recently John, an Abanaki sales rep, visited a customer that was in need of replacing some old components in its skimming operation. The facility uses the Model 8 oil skimmers on tanks that are 20 ft off of the ground. The skimmed hydrocarbons are drained in to an oil concentrator below. The oil concentrators at the facility are very old and don't preform like they have in previous years. John suggested the company replace the older oil concentrators with Abanaki's OC200.

A company that handles the transferring of petroleum and alternative fuels recently had a leak in one of its reservoir tanks. The company purchased a 4 inch Tote-It with a Fuzzy betl and Oil Concentrator to clean up the mess.

The wastewater pits in Steel Mills are a particularly harsh place for oil skimmers to operate. The heavy oils and greases that are typically found in the scale-pits can wear out an oil skimmer if the right skimmer and belt material is not being used.

One of the many advantages of Abanaki oil skimmers is that they are built to operate in numerous applications. This advantage comes in handy with some of our customers that own and operate several different industrial operations. Abanaki has had a customer in India for over 10 years. This customer has businesses in paint, lubricant, and some chemical production, as well as real-estate and engineering services. Over the past 10 years this company has utilized and purchased more than 125 Mighty Disk Skimmers!