"the service engineer…was responsive and technically competent, but more important he was passionate about solving our problems…thank you" - Customer

NEWS


A GREEN CHEMISTRY "PERFECT STORM"

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (10/17/2008) A New Customer Pushes The Envelope For Substantial Profitability Improvement

Situation: A new customer separates water-in-oil emulsions using heat and demulsifiers in a batch process. The plant was already operating at capacity. The surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsions were difficult to break and required "about 5000 ppm demulsifier and cooking at 200°F for 8 hours, followed by a slow cooling for another 8 hours". Energy costs were high, and overall chemical costs for oil treatment and subsequent wastewater treatment ran about $0.13/gallon. Earlier in the year, a plant operator got splashed in the face with a demulsifier that was corrosive, flammable and toxic, so the customer was receptive to green products for safety reasons.

Problem: The situation above was challenging but manageable. The problem came when plant volume receipts increased over 30% due to consolidation of another operation. The short term solution was to increase demulsifier dosage in an attempt to resolve emulsions quicker and increase turnover of batch tanks. Production did increase, but so did the unit treatment costs associated with demulsifier and energy consumption. In addition, unit sludge generation increased and both oil quality and wastewater quality declined.

Solution: After evaluating the customer's needs, we offered them a "tweaked" version of our DMG-240 green demulsifier. Right away the operator appreciated the absence of pungent vapors that used to burn his eyes and sinuses. After treating about 15 batches of emulsion, the customer reported back to us with the good news:
  1. Tank turnover rates and, therefore, production had more than DOUBLED, and
  2. Temperature requirements were reduced to 140°F with no holding period, and
  3. The emulsion breaks were rapid and didn't require a cooling period, so the hot, demulsifier-laden water phase was pumped to the next batch tank where both heat and residual demulsifier were recovered, which gave the next batch a head-start, and
  4. Chemical costs were reduced to less than $0.07/gallon and energy costs were significantly reduced, and
  5. Treated oil was cleaner than it had ever been (<0.5% BS&W) which allowed them to upgrade their outlet market from asphalt burner fuel to chain lube blend stock, and
  6. Sludge from rag layers was reduced to less than HALF the previous volume, and
  7. By increasing processing capacity, the daily stress on operations personnel was reduced and operators were allowed to focus on quality improvements.
This customer was favorably impressed with the results obtained. All credit goes to those who were flexible and open to experimenting outside their normal process. As a result, their profitability has substantially increased and they now have excess processing capacity.

CONTROLLED HYDROGENATION IMPROVES DEMULSIFIER FOR PARAFFINIC EMULSIONS

THE WOODLANDS, TX (8/29/2008) Modified Base Oil Surfactant Improves Demulsifier Performance

As the oil & gas industry ramps up production, there is increasing demand for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects using chemical water floods, especially surfactant floods. There are two principal obstacles to this technology, 1) the cost of large quantities of surfactant specially designed to emulsify a particular formation oil, and 2) at the surface, demulsifying the generated "engineered" water-in-oil emulsion which is much more stable and complex than typical oilfield emulsions. A project to develop a demulsifier for a surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsion, where the surfactant was a arylalkyl sulfonate and the oil was a paraffinic/asphaltic crude oil, has been bench scale tested and the result is a new family of intermediates. Chemists determined that by controlled hydrogenation of various C18+ base oils prior to alkoxylation/sulfonation/amination, a key constituent is obtained that, when blended with complimentary co-surfactants, provides important synergistic properties. The first step is partial saturation of double bonds which converts each hydroxyoleic portion to a hydroxystearic portion. Then the hydrophile is reacted with the carboxyl group of the hydroxystearic portion (for example, by alcoholyzing the carboxyl group followed by transesterification and saponification). The modified surfactant formed is characterized by a very narrow activity range, low HLB, improved wetting and dispersability, excellent electrical properties, and good charge modification.

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE WITH THE RIGHT CHEMISTRY

LITTLE ROCK, AR (4/14/2008) A Railroad Company Asks For The Impossible… Then Receives It

Situation: Railroads are required by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to maintain safe operations. One of the most difficult areas to maintain compliance is keeping lubricants cleaned from walkways and other accessible areas of locomotives.

Problem: When a railroad company asked us to develop a hard surface cleaner for washing locomotives, the list of requirements was ambitious to say the least. The cleaner must:
  1. Be a touch-free solution; no scrubbing, just spray on and rinse off, and
  2. Contain no hazardous ingredients, especially glycol ethers, and
  3. Remove oil and grease from hard surfaces, and
  4. Remove soot from engine compartment areas, and
  5. Remove rail film, and
  6. Be non-corrosive so it is safe, and doesn't etch or otherwise damage the expensive locomotive paint, and
  7. Provide quick separation and no emulsification of oil and grease so the water phase can be filtered and recycled, and the oil phase can be sold as an energy product.
Solution: After more than 2 years of research and development, we developed a product that overwhelmingly met all of the requirements… no compromises. There were times throughout the project when we thought we had met our match, but we continued to persevere and eventually proved to ourselves, once again, that anything is possible with the right chemistry.

LOW-COST GREEN SURFACTANT

HOUSTON, TX (2/29/2008) Once Again, Serendipity Brings a Cold Project Back to Life

In the laboratory and in the field, we are constantly experimenting and innovating. So it is no surprise that serendipity is commonplace. An important project that required a low-cost, specialty surfactant that was safe and environmentally friendly, had been on the back burner for more than a year with little progress. For a different project, we began manufacturing a surfactant from the base oil 2,5-furandione, dihydro-3-(2-tetradecenyl)- which is made from the simple reaction of olefins and maleic anhydride. When combined with 1,2,3-propanetricarboxylic acid, 2-hydroxy-, ethyl ester, which is derived from corn, we produced for both projects the optimum combination of high performance, low cost, and compliance with safety and environmental requirements.

PHENOLIC SHOCK RECOVERY OF ACTIVATED SLUDGE

NEW ORLEANS, LA (1/18/2008) Refinery Satisfied Bioaugmentation Is Effective

For more than 10 years, a refinery has augmented its wastewater treatment process with microbial products. Some personnel felt that bioaugmentation provided a broad range of benefits, while others were concerned that its effectiveness had never been documented. An opportunity to test its effectiveness came when an equipment failure sent a large volume of aromatics, including phenols, to the wastewater unit. Phenols are toxic to microorganisms, however, the refinery biomass has been constantly exposed and has adapted to normal phenol concentrations of 30 mg/l. The upset caused phenol concentrations to jump to an average 384 mg/l. For accuracy, testing was performed in sequencing batch reactors (SBRs), all inputs (biomass, influent wastewater, air, nutrients, etc.) flowed through splitter boxes to ensure consistency, and pH was maintained at 7. The only variable was the addition of AB-2330 microbial blend to one train of SBRs. The objective was to minimize the time required to reduce phenol levels to 0.25 mg/l. Results showed phenol reduction WITHOUT augmentation required an average 21.6 hours per batch. Phenol reduction WITH augmentation required only 11.7 hours per batch; a 46% increase in throughput. In addition, sludge settling rates and compaction were significantly better in the augmented reactors. The intent of this comparison test was to measure the effectiveness of bioaugmentation. The end result is that the refinery has now INCREASED their daily usage of our microbial products.
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