Skimmer offloading :: SALAROLLPUMP

Skimmer offloading

Salarollpump improves skimmer high viscous oil recover rate due to super suction and debris tolerance capabilities.
The video shows a large underground area that is used to store oil for a power station. The power station is now being rebuilt for burning woodchips and the area will now store woodchips. Below the water level is 20 m of water and on top of the water is approx. 0.1 – 0.2 m oil (4 - 8"). Time is limited so the oil has to be cleaned out at the same time they are working on the roof. At one time, the area underground was completely filled with oil and there was no risk if a stone fell from the roof. Now it has to be safe.

The pump is off loading the skimmer with a 4" suction hose. Suction lift is approx. 1 m. The pressure hose has a length of 80 m and total discharge height is 5 - 10 m.

The skimmer previously had a pump mounted on it but it failed too often because of the content of sand and stones in the oil.

The first pumping sequence shows pumping of oil 5. The oil has been sitting in this area for years. The first picture shows start up before everything was organized. There is a very large surface area and getting the oil to the skimmer has been difficult. The skimmer can not be installed on a vehicle. As a result, a special tool was used to move the oil. Another problem that limits capacity is that the oil is extremely thick. Not only high viscous but also put there is also large “clumps” of oil and debris that get stuck in the inlet weir or funnel of the skimmer. The Salarollpump is advantageous because of the vacuum it produces and its tolerance to debris. It helps pull the oil through the skimmer.

When the pump is placed in a new position per the video, the oil recovered is from production of paper. This is more difficult as it will not "stick" together which makes it more difficult to feed the skimmer. As you can see, the pump is "jumping" on each revolution. This is due to the high pump speed. The physical limitation in the suction hose does not allow more than a certain flow (viscosity, diameter and length). If the pump is running faster "bubbles" of vacuum will be produced that will "implode" and cause the movement in the pump. Later on in the film we reduced the speed from approx 40 rpm to 20 rpm. As a result, the movement or “jumping” is reduced and the capacity remained the same.

In total more than 1 500 ton has been pumped out. Most of the time capacity has been approx 8 ton per hour. When pumping the oil from paper production capacity has been down to 2 ton per hour.