Introduction

These can be defined as Steel Making Plants, Steel Processing Plants, i.e. Tube Works and Rolling Mills, and aluminium production, again the processing as well as the initial manufacturing.

		In 1988 we received a call to assess the potential removal of oil and grease from an interceptor in a steel works and equipment was made available for a month's hire. As a result of this work, orders were placed for 5 units to be set up as permanent installations on these deep drains. Such is the versatility of the OPEC E-Series that the mop configuration allows deployment into deep drains with a high rise and fall - 3 to 4 metres of oily water with an overall drop of approx. 15 metres, using the special outrigger.
Fig. 1 Example of a steel rolling mill

		The equipment was able to operate at all times and this original installation is still in operation. Other locations were then identified on site including large settlement tanks, clarifiers, sumps, interceptors, settlement ponds etc., all requiring different deployment techniques - i.e. the opening out of the mop on the oil water surface to allow a greater encounter rate of oil on the mop, as well as other areas just utilising a vertical drop and even more using the mop with an outrigger to allow unlimited opening up of the mop on the oil water surface.
Fig. 2 An example of an E-Series on a steel works site with outrigger

		Since the initial installation in 1988 a further 36 systems have been installed on this one site. There are now a total of 41 OPEC mop skimmer systems in operation on a continuous basis - 24 hours a day / 7 days a week and we are currently assessing and identifying other locations that will require OPEC's mop skimmer systems.
Fig. 3 Horizontal deployment of the OPEC Mop

The systems have proved to be of great value to the site, in that they are removing very large quantities of oil which is a potential pollution threat, but in such a way that the recovered oil is being used by the Steel Company to substitute for virgin fuel oil purposes, saving its user just under £300,000 per annum in fuel costs. The pay back period on this equipment is weeks - not months - not years!

The impact that this equipment has had is extremely high, in that as illustrations above show the cost savings are enormous, the pay back is phenomenal and the efficiency and performance is excellent, with relatively low maintenance and spares requirement. All this plus preventing in the order of 3 million litres of oil being discharged into the surrounding environment. The reduction in potential fines for pollution is also paramount.

OPEC E-Series mop skimmer systems are being used in many and varied industries as permanent installations to prevent pollution and are also used in the food industry picking up animal, vegetable and mineral oils. Other industries include animal rendering facilities, dairy produce production units, margarine and other food processing operations (picking up animal fats, even vegetable oils such as palm oil), engineering facilities, vehicle manufacturing plants, general engineering - even paper making (oil leaks from hydraulics and lubricating points on machines), power stations even nuclear power stations (again for leaks of hydraulic and lubricating oils) and many, many more.

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