Industrial vacuum equipment manufacturer Triton Industries LLC, of Lottie, La., is renting out about 36 of its portable units for use in the Gulf oil cleanup efforts, and through news accounts says it expects to place another 300 units on barges.

Popular models for the cleanup duty are 500 Series skid-mounted vacuum pumps, and 1500 and 2000 Series liquid ring pumps, according to Mike O’Rourke, Triton’s general manager. The series numbers refer to the CFM-rating of the units.

The company was started by Mike James and has produced skid- and trailer-mounted vacuum units since 1997, O’Rourke says. Triton has posted several video news accounts about the cleanup efforts on YouTube, including this Fox News affiliate report: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekfJJv_YOao

The Triton equipment is being used to skim weathered oil, a residue that has the consistency of peanut butter, O’Rourke explains. The placements are focused on shallow draft barges, and the oil is typically conveyed into 25-yard vac boxes holding about 5,000 gallons of product, he says.

Among industrial cleaning jobs typical of the vac units is removing sludges from the bottom of tanks, shot blast recovery at shipyards and other work at refineries and chemical plants within a 150-mile radius of the company headquarters. Triton builds and rents out most of its vacuum equipment in the region, but it also sells units to far-flung customers.

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.