Biodiesel Industry Oil Skimming System

Overview

From equipment cooling to washing and more, the biodiesel production process utilizes water extensively. Often, this water picks up oil or grease at some point throughout production and before the water is reused or sent to a municipal treatment plant, the oil must be removed.

Using an oil skimming system to remove and recover this oil from biodiesel production water offers significant advantages to those in the biodiesel industry, including:

• Enhances efficiency of wastewater treatment and water processing operations
• Improves the process for reusing water or meeting wastewater disposal requirements
• Lowers wastewater treatment and discharge costs (i.e., chemicals, hauling charges, treatment-system maintenance)
• Creates new revenue through the sale or reuse of recovered oil
• Prevents foul odors caused by growing bacteria from oil layer build-up
• Reduces safety hazards such as line clogs and oil build-up that can result in fire or spill hazards
• Improves overall operations by eliminating the need for staff supervision and minimizing downtime, while offering automatic and continuous oil removal

Applications

Examples of oil removal applications in the biodiesel industry, include:

• Biodiesel industry customer sites or facilities
  (i.e. a facility customer that collects recycled animal oils for biodiesel use)
• Oil that is found in cooling water as a result of production process leaks or equipment spills
• Sumps, pits or basins that collect wash water used to clean up oil spills or leaks
• Collection tanks
• Wastewater treatment plants