antifreeze recycling

TESTING INSTRUCTIONS FOR ANTIFREEZE RECYCLING

Here are some procedural instructions which may prove useful. You may call us for testing suggestions for your antifreeze recycling.  Test the antifreeze substrate in either 500 ml or 1000 ml samples in beakers, Mason jars on any clear container.  Rinse out beakers between tests.  You need to “make down” the samples into a dilute testing solution strength.  Do not apply our formulations neat (undiluted or “as is”) to your waste.  You will not produce effective or reliable results.

You have heard of the old saw, “a pint’s a pound the world around.”  A similar but scientifically correct equation is most useful in determining chemical dosages in jar testing.

1 ml of 0.1% treatment solution in a 1000 ml substrate is equivalent to 1 ppm of treatment.

1 ml of 1.0% treatment solution in a 1000 ml substrate is equivalent to 10 ppm of treatment.

1 ml of 10% treatment solution in a 1000 ml substrate is equivalent to 100 ppm of treatment.

1 ml of 0.1% treatment solution in a 500 ml substrate is equivalent to 2.0 ppm of treatment.

1 ml of 1.0% treatment solution in a 500 ml substrate is equivalent to 20 ppm of treatment.

1 ml of 10% treatment solution in a 500 ml substrate is equivalent to 200 ppm of treatment.

Based on the above truisms, here is how we recommend that you make down our neat treatment samples into testing solutions.  To 90 ml. of tap or very clean water, charge 10 ml. of each Tramfloc® 500, 700 and 800 series formulation into its own market plastic cup with a capacity of 5-10 oz.  Mix the water and chemical vigorously for 10 seconds.  Now make down the flocculant solutions by charging 0.1 ml of neat flocculant, the 100-499 series of Tramfloc® formulations to 100 ml of tap or very clean water and mix vigorously for 30 seconds.  The end product should be a uniformly white, thick and viscous emulsion without any lumps.  If you have a jar tester, that is great. If not, have a supply of stirrers long enough to thoroughly mix the chemical into your antifreeze solution in your 500 ml or 1000 ml testing beakers.

Charge waste antifreeze into the beakers and treat with 1000 ppm of Tramfloc® 861, mix and observe results of antifreeze recycling.  Treat again with a fresh waste sample until you have tested up to 10000 ppm in 1000 ml increments.  Observe and record results.  Repeat the test with Tramfloc® 500 series products at a 50-500 ppm dosage in 50 ppm increments.  You can use larger increments in your first runs to make gross assessments.  Repeat the test with each Tramfloc® 700 and 800 series products at a 50-500 ppm dosage in 50 ppm increments.  You are looking for a complete break out of the contaminants or, the formation of numerous and tiny specs of TSS which weren’t visible before treatment.  When that happens, it is the indication of the need to treat with a bridger, a 100-400 series product, but especially a 100 series formulation.  Bridgers should be dosed in the 0-20 ppm range in 5 ppm increments.

There you have it, the beginning of antifreeze recycling.  Once you start, it’s like riding a bicycle.  Tell us about your results regardless of what they might be.  Your feedback is very important to us so we can help you get the most efficient TSS removal from the old antifreeze. Contact us with any questions and good luck.

ANTIFREEZE RECYCLING IMPROVED WITH TRAMFLOC® 861 SERIES OILY EMULSION BREAKERS

Tramfloc, Inc. is pleased to offer a special reagent to break out oily debris from used antifreeze solutions.

Tramfloc® 861, 861A, 861B and 876 products are amine blends specially formulated to release the emulsified oil often present in used antifreeze solutions. They are collected by independent antifreeze recycling companies all over the country and world. The recyclers reconstitute the used antifreeze with new reagents and offer the automotive repair trade a first quality product which helps our environment. The recycling facility is challenged by the impurities which have become part of the glycol solution.

The spent coolants contain oil, foreign matter, heavy metals, excess chlorides and suspended solids (rag layer). The contaminants should be removed so that the reclaimed antifreeze solution has a suitable technical and economic resale value. Rather than invest in capital-intensive membrane systems, recyclers are treating their glycol batches with one of the above breakers. They have been designed to be functional in the environments of both ethylene and propylene glycol solutions with their unique polar characteristics.

Treating a batch of used antifreeze solution with 1000-5000 ppm of the above-mentioned breakers is usually able to allow the tramp and emulsified oil and solids to either rise to the top of the batch treatment tank or precipitate as underflow to the bottom of the tank. Professional recyclers often install conical tanks of 1,000 to 10,000 gallons in capacity to reclaim the glycol-water mixtures. When the rag layer floats and that is not desirable in the operation scheme of the recycling plant, the suspended and floating solids may often be dropped to the bottom of the tank by means of the application of one of the Tramfloc® 100 Series Bridger Flocculants. They are designed to agglomerate the rag layer and cause it to precipitate to the bottom of the treatment tank for non-hazardous disposal.

The clarifier water produced in the batch tank by the activity of the Tramfloc® 861 Series products can be further recycled or sent to the POTW without further treatment. The supernatant quality is usually quite high when the emulsion breaking process has been performed effectively.

Any spent antifreeze or waste oil processing company which needs to simplify its treatment methods, improve oil release and reduce the reagent expense should evaluate samples of the Tramfloc chemistry for suitability in each recycler’s operation. Contact us for samples and to discuss your individual recycling operation’s chemistry applications.

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