Oil Waste Preparation - An Important Step in Treating your Liquid Waste

A Story of Ecuador Oil Waste…

Today, we want to share with you the importance of preparing your oil waste before applying your customized treatment. It is one of our key steps when designing a liquid waste solution. We’ll showcase its importance through one of our case studies. It concerns the delivery and commissioning of a SAS MIST 220 system for the treatment of oil sludge to a waste management company based in Ecuador.

From Solid to Liquid Waste…

This is a really fascinating project and this particular company had a number of waste issues that it wanted to address and opportunities that it wanted to capture. It involved both liquid waste from refinery operations, traditional sludge with a high oil content that could be recovered and solids which would be able to go to bioremediation at the site. At this site there was already a lot of bioremediation work being carried out of hydrocarbon contaminated land and soil. Some of that waste takes a very long time to bioremediate and that limits how much waste you can process through bioremediation. But if you can take waste that has relatively high hydrocarbons and put it through the system and using our chemistry and engineering to remove as much of the hydrocarbons as you can, then that opens up the capability of processing more waste on site and therefore growing your business.

The Importance of Blending…

In this case the system was designed both to take liquid waste, but it also had to take more solid waste. What we did in this case is we modified the waste before it actually went through the separation stage. Here we used two blending tanks that were built by a local design and engineering company. Those blending tanks allowed the customer to add oil or water to the solid waste to actually create a liquid waste. Then we put that liquid sludge through the SAS MIST system and using our chemistry, the result was very dry solids that can either go to a landfill or be further bioremediated. The liquid waste, the oil in the water would simply come out the other end and would be recovered.

Waste Evaluation Process…

The way we approached this case was to start off with a waste evaluation and process development stage where we really got to know the company that we worked with, the ways that they were looked to process and what their customer requirements were. Part of the process was to perform site surveys where we looked at what waste is on site, what is the layout, what is the nature of the waste. There was a lot of waste in this particular site and some of it had been there for a long time, going through bioremediation. We were really trying to do an assessment to see if some of this waste was quite liquid. We concluded that we could process it and other waste already far down the bioremediation route, for it there probably no point of putting it through the system.

In conclusion, it was just an evaluation of what there was on site and making sure that we knew exactly what we could do.Ultimately it came to the point where the system was about ready to be delivered and we worked with the team locally so that they were completely prepared for the arrival of our engineers and chemists and also of the MIST system itself. We got some excellent results with really dry solids, which we were expecting. And so, to get a really good meaningful outcome, it was a fantastic project to be involved in. If you have any questions contact us via email via telephone ,find us on Linkedin find us on Youtube ,leave a comment, ask a question and we will definitely, reply and get back to you as soon as we can and hopefully we'll have an opportunity to work with you as much as we enjoyed working with this particular project.

Thank you very much,

Mark Zwinderman |CEO

The guide to the SAS MIST - Step by Step

SAS MIST Process

Today I am going to walk you through the SAS Environmental Services MIST process. This is a process for the treatment of liquid oil waste such as mud slops, oil sludge, and refinery waste. Normally, this waste will be stored in a tank, in a pit, in a lagoon, or in a mud skip.

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 Waste Preparation

The first thing we need to do is prepare this waste for effective and proper treatment and make sure we achieve the best results possible. We use a pump, because this is a liquid waste that we are dealing with to pump the waste from the storage. The slops or sludge is pumped into our Waste Preparation Module. This is a dual blend tank setup based within a 20-foot frame. What those to blend tanks allow us to do is ensure that the waste goes into the Separation Stage in the best possible condition for treatment.

The variability of oil waste is enormous and the more we can standardize what goes into the treatment phase, the more successful we will be in the outcomes. These dual blend tanks allow us to do a few things that are very beneficial in the treatment of oil waste.

 First of all, if the waste is very high in solids, the blending tanks will allow us to reduce the solids content in the waste by adding some amount of water, oil or another solvent. This allows us to create waste with an overall lower solids content. This helps to improve the effectiveness of the decanter centrifuge at the separation stage. Also, there are times when we have very viscous waste, and adding a solvent can actually help reduce the viscosity. That in its own right can help at the separation stage when we want to remove the solids from the waste.

Innovative chemistry

The other thing we can do at the blending tanks stage is to add the SAS SludgeTreat products. This the chemistry that makes SAS-ES such a unique company. What the chemistry will do is start to work on the oil and the solids and begin to create that separation effect. We can do this inline right before the separation stage, but doing it at the waste preparation module stage gives us the opportunity to blend a little bit longer is needed. For example when the waste is particularly difficult, when there are as many different chemicals present in the waste, or when we have a higher solid loading.

The other benefit is that sometimes by blending chemistry and oil sludge for a longer period of time, it can actually reduce chemical dose rate a little bit. So, this is a very good capability to have in front of the separation stage. What it allows us to do by using those two blending tanks is that one blending tank is preparing the waste and mixing, the other blending tank is feeding the decanter. In effect, what we have enabled is a continuous batch process.

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The SAS MIST Engineering

The MIST system itself, the separation stage, has a pump which will pump the waste from the relevant blending tank. This waste will then be processed through the decanter centrifuge which forms the core of our MIST treatment stage. This decanter is very robust. It has been proven in the field for decades. It does a fantastic job, and because our chemistry is now so thoroughly mixed into the waste, what you get is very dry solids recovered. These solids will come out the side of the MIST unit through a discharge port, and the solids are disposed off in a skip or in a pit that is located next to the treatment system.

The MIST process produces very dry solids, so we do not get a wet sludge coming out the side. And of course, dry solids minimizes the amount of waste for disposal because all the liquid that you would normally get into this “wet solids” discharge would have to be paid for at the disposal site. By producing a really dry, nice, powdery sludge, you get a fantastic result because of the SAS SludgeTreat chemistry.

The other discharge coming out of the decanter centrifuge is the liquid centrate. This is a mixture of the oil and the water. The centrate is pumped from the decanter out of the MIST system. The centrate is placed into a storage tank. In the storage tank, because the system has removed virtually all of the solids and because the SAS SludgeTreat chemistry is present, the oil and the water are simply going to separate under gravity.

 The oil is going to float to the top. You can recover this oil. You can sell it. You can reuse it. You can run a generator of it. Sometimes, you might want to bring that oil back to the preparation stage and dilute heavy sludge if that is what you are treating, and on the other end, you will be recovering the water. The water can either be discharged to the surface, to a sewer, go to a wastewater treatment plant, undergo further cleaning or filtration, depending on where you are, what the regulations and your permits are.

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That, in a nutshell, is the MIST process. It is very effective. It is very robust. It handles virtually any type of liquid oil waste. If you want to know anything more and you have any questions, then do not hesitate to email us or give us a ring and get in touch with us. We would love to hear from you. Thank you.

Want to discover more? Listen to mark explain the SAS Process in the video below:

Delivering a tailor-made solution to your waste

All the best plans come to nothing unless you can deliver on the work and meet the expectations and requirements.

As a team we have worked for 20 years to consistently deliver the results when it matters. Genuine delivery of results means you have to always learn, keep an open mind, listen to others with experience and follow a methodical path towards problem solving.

Delivery of results means setting aside egos and working together to implement the hard work carried out in preparation and planning.

We have a deep understanding of the processes involved in oil waste creation, transport and treatment and once on-site we know how to get things set up and continuously improve the process. For example the dose rate of our chemistry virtually always reduces over the first 2 months of operation as we train and guide our clients in use of the chemistry and running the process. Making a waste treatment process as efficient as we can means building long term relationships. It is why we worked with the Ineos refinery in Scotland for over 10 years to treat the stored oil sludge on site.

Our technology has provided us with a unique capability to handle virtually all oil waste. The versatility of our process and chemistry means that with one chemical we can almost always solve any oil waste issue in the treatment process.

We have hugely enjoyed our work over the past 20 years and the amazing experience of seeing people’s daily work life change because what was a problem for them is now just the daily routine of applying our microemulsion chemistry. We have delivered our solutions from the UK to Canada and from Ecuador to Malaysia and Australia. Together we can get this process delivered to your site as well.

Designing a Solution that delivers

I was at a trial once in Aberdeen where our chemistry was used to treat some particularly difficult oil drilling waste. The results were not good to put it mildly. We knew the chemistry worked as we had done the initial assessment. We also knew the equipment was fine.

The problem of course was that the process was not well designed. The wrong equipment was being used with our chemistry. Equipment used for solids control was being pushed into a waste treatment role with a totally new type of chemistry and so the engineers onsite went with what they knew. Not a good day at the office!

However, the fastest and best learning comes from getting things wrong and within a few days we turned things around. An important lesson to take on board. It is crucial to design the right process including waste handling on-site, equipment included, skills required and managing and disposing of output materials and all this while taking into account the location (remote site in Africa, next to a refinery, offshore Canada?).

Many of our clients are companies that have invested in waste processes and equipment unsuitable for the waste being treated or not capable of meeting the expected and required outputs. Our job is to help and try to augment or adapt the process in place so performance can be improved using our unique chemistry. In many cases this can be done with fairly limited changes. In some situations, the process in place is wholly unsuitable and a new process needs to be put in place.

Design is not just the decision on whether a decanter centrifuge is needed. Design includes the establishment of a treatment plan, a site plan and that key understanding of what needs to be achieved by the client.

As a company we have found our unique place in the oil waste treatment industry by specialising in designing and delivering the right solutions all based around that amazing chemical technology that separates out oil slops and oil sludge.

Assessing the waste parameters

In my previous blog post on the process we use at SAS Environmental Services to deliver the right solution to each of our clients I covered the importance we place on understanding the issues surrounding the oil waste and the required outcomes to achieved.

In this blog I want to talk a little bit about the second step on the road to successful waste treatment. We call it the “Assess” step and it really contains a lot of our experience of gained in successfully managing oil waste projects and the effectiveness of our unique chemical technology in new and existing operations.

Because we have a unique chemical technology that enables a whole new way of treating and managing oil based waste the assumption is often that the chemistry needs to be tested on the waste itself. In most cases this is not needed as we already know from 20 years of operations where the chemistry will be effective and where it will not. The assessment here is about the exact parameters of the oil waste in questions and the nature of the treatment process. Oil waste such as slop or sludge is almost always variable in composition. This means any effective treatment process will need to have several steps. This can include a pre-screening step, blending in of solvents or oil or water and the use of heat. The assessment going on at this stage is the determination of the steps needed to take the waste from one state (the start) to another state (treated). This often takes the form of conversation with the client and at times some additional lab work to confirm and evaluate the impact of these waste manipulations.

“The assessment here is about the exact parameters of the oil waste in questions and the nature of the treatment process. ”

— Mark Zwinderman | CEO

Once we have an outline of the steps needed to treat the waste and we have a clear view of the operational circumstances (Remote site? Power availability? Space?) we can sit down with the client and discuss the economics of the process, what investments are required and to what extent the existing infrastructure can be augmented using our technology to improve results.

At this point we have a clear picture of the steps needed to treat the waste and the operational circumstances in which to treat the waste. There is also a good understanding of the expected economics. That means it is time to “Design” the process and solution! More on that step in the next blog.

Understanding the issue

The process we have at SAS Environmental Services to ensure we get the right solution to the right customer for the right waste is something we developed over the past 20 years.

You cannot deliver the right solution to the customer without first making sure you understand the project, the customer, the waste and the required outcomes. At the same we have to always work and improve on making sure what we do and what can do is clear to the customer. Understanding is harder than it seems and in life we all are often guilty of assuming we understand the other person’s point of view or problem. Follow-on questions and a genuine curiosity in solving the problem are critical for success.

We have a few (not so secret) weapons. First of all we have a unique chemical technology based on microemulsions that allows us to treat oil waste and achieve results not possible any other way. It’s amazing and we are very proud of our technology and products and especially the kind of results we enable our customers to achieve.

Secondly, we have a genuine curiosity and desire to understand the oil sludge problem, to understand the operational and logistical issues in treating waste in the desert, jungle, North Sea or Canada (in the winter. Seriously. I love Canada, the people and whoever invented the heated steering wheel).

One of the exciting parts of our work is speaking to you, to our new clients and learn more about the waste, the history of the waste and what we together have to do to call it a success at the end of the project.

A very small example of understanding and asking the right follow-on questions goes back to a small project in Canada. We were asked if we could treat drill cuttings. A waste that for us, in our experience, consisted of relatively large rock cuttings. Substantially sized solid particles you would wash with our chemistry and then dispose of. Once we got to the site the waste in question was liquid mud waste contaminated with fine solids. An interesting conversation followed on what “cuttings” are. We compromised and all we agreed these were very small drill cuttings indeed. Different chemistry and engineering required and a different outcome to aim for.

One person’s oil sludge is another person’s oil slop. Give us a ring or send us an email with your waste and your requirements and let’s see if we can start working together and get an understanding of the project.