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| SUCCESSSTORY:
CHICAGOLAND AREA SCREW MACHINE SHOP |
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Walk, Don’t Run—Surfaces May Be SlickHow does a screw machine house achieve the goal of providing its employees with a safe and clean work environment when every process is oil-lubricated, therefore creating constantly slippery floors? A suburban Chicago company with more than 350 screw machines in operation overcame this challenge by dedicating three people to the operation of one “drive around” and a pair of “walk-behind” scrubbers, virtually every minute of every working day. Obviously, this much washing generated quite a bit of nasty, oil-contaminated floor wash solution – to the incredible total of nearly 500 gallons per day. |
" What a Blessing Our Washer Washer Has Been. " |
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While secure movement around the
facility was no longer an issue, what could be done with all that
wastewater? Sewer discharge was clearly out of the question and
the economics of hauling were not exactly attractive. “Here’s a
thought,” suggested Ray Ronda, from WMRC, a branch of the Illinois
DNR with a Pollution Prevention focus, “why not treat this
wastewater as a renewable resource?” How so? “Recycle it – wash
the floors with it again and again… and again!” Recovery and
reuse of the spent cleaner would satisfy managing
thousands of gallons of “wastewater” per week without paying to
haul it all away. Couple those savings with potential reductions
in the purchase of neat floor wash chemistry and the equipment
might even pay for itself over time. So, where to find such a
device? From prior joint efforts, Ronda knew of the Arbortech
Corporation and its Washer Washer (WW) and called the company into
the facility.
Talk About Slick; How ‘Bout That Washer Washer Following an extended test on a small recycling system, during which issues like biological growth in the floor wash solution, full-scale sizing and membrane restoration processes were addressed, the company purchased a system in late 2000. Over the past three years, while operators have come and gone, the WW remained in service and continued to prove its worth, having cumulatively recycled over a half million gallons of product thus far. The manager currently responsible for floor maintenance utilized Arbortech recently to train another new team involved with the system and reported, “Even after all this time in use, and, frankly, some trying operating conditions due to staff turnover, we can still generate more than 500 gallons per day of recycled floor wash solution. I simply cannot fathom having had to ship all this water offsite – thank goodness we found these guys. We reduced neat cleaner purchases by about 5,000 gallons annually so, while our chemical vendor may not have been able to afford a new luxury sedan every year, even they recognize the incredibly positive environmental impact this machine has had at our facility. What a blessing our Washer Washer has been.” |
In just over three years, this Washer Washer has recycled over 500,000 gallons of wash water. “ Why not treat this wastewater as a renewable resource? Recycle it – wash the floors again & again!” |
Johnsburg, IL 60051-2515 (815)385-0001 Fax (815)385-0089 sales@arbortech.com |
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