Degreasing bath and oil waste

In the mechanical industry oil emulsions could be recovered in a continuous regime using membrane technology, by breaking up the emulsion with ultrafiltration and subsequently separating the oil from the surfactant. 

Degreasing is a necessary step before any other when processing in the mechanical industry, steel industries and, generally speaking, in the transformation of raw materials. Degreasing is performed with the aid of an aqueous solution containing detergents. The detergents emulsify oil present on the material to be treated; for this reason, oil concentration tends to increase in degreasing baths until there is a need for renewal and/or replacement, to avoid loss of effectiveness.

Sepra Solution

Using ultrafiltration membranes, either in the polymeric or in the ceramic configuration, it is possible to eliminate oil continuosly and to recycle the oil free filtrate (called permeate) in the original degreasing bath. During treatment, the solution splits into two flows:

• Oil free filtrate (permeate), which is constituted by water and detergents present in the original degreasing bath.
• Concentrate, which contains oils and suspended solids and that can be stored and subsequently disposed, or recycled back into the oil removal tank, equipped with a floating tube that separates the oil, removing free oil that comes up to the surface of the tank. 

Adavantages

• Longer life of degreasing baths
• Stable oil concentration => consistent degreasing efficiency
• Water and detergents reuse
• Automatic operation
• Limited maintenance

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