We’re starting to hear from manufactures in the liquid waste industry who are being called on to provide equipment that will be vital to the Gulf oil disaster long-term cleanup operation.
For the past three weeks, tank manufacturer Imperial Industries Inc. has dedicated its production capacity to building 450-gallon aluminum slide-in vacuum tanks that are being used on boats and barges in the Gulf to skim oil from the ocean’s surface. According to general sales manager, Tom Aerts, the Wisconsin company has produced about 40 units destined for the Gulf, 25 of them in one order through distributor TankTec (Tank Technologies & Supply Co.).
“The units are faring very well down there,’’ Aerts says. “They don’t want steel because they’re putting these on small fishing boats, smaller barges and small airboats to go into the marshes and weight is very critical.’’
The units being shipped are similar to those made for grease trap service, single-compartment tanks with Masport HXL3 pumps powered by Honda 9-hp gas or Yanmar diesel engines. The tanks are traditional slide-in units, with a foot print of 48 inches by 94 inches with an overall barrel size of 53 inches and weighing 830 pounds, he explains. The units are outfitted with the same hose and wand accessories as the typical portable sanitation unit.
From what he can determine, Aerts says end users – typically not folks who normally work in the liquid waste industry – are running the units with the discharge valve opened a crack so that the lighter oil stays in the tank while the heavier water drips out the bottom. This allows skimmers to fill the tanks almost exclusively with oil, then offload for disposal.
Aerts is optimistic the company will get orders for at least 100 units. The company can produce about a dozen units per week, while still serving its other customers, and could expand production if necessary, he says.
TankTec posted this video news account of the oil skimming, which features the Imperial units in action: http://www.tanktec.biz/TankTec/CBS.html.
We also heard from Suzanne Huber, president of Gulfport, Mississippi-based truck builder Keith Huber Inc., who used recent media opportunities to explain how equipment used in the liquid waste industry could aid the cleanup. Take a look at Suzanne’s TV news appearance here: http://www.wlox.com/global/category.asp?c=151146&clipId;=&topVideoCatNo=15006&topVideoCatNoB=116100&topVideoCatNoC=116467&topVideoCatNoD=116474&topVideoCatNoE=88558&clipId=4858509&autostart=true
If you have news you’d like to share about your company’s involvement in the Gulf oil recovery efforts, send me an e-mail at editor@pumper.com.
