SPILL RECOVERY
May 1st 2004 When an environmental engineering company needed to recover spilt diesel fuel leaking from storage tanks, Autoclude provided the solution.
Fuel had spread over a wide area and needed to be quickly and effectively removed from site. The exercise had to limit any environmental damage and recover the diesel fuel by sinking a number of bore holes around the contaminated area to drain a mixture of water and diesel.
In total six bore holes were sunk, each containing a special floating unit housing the end of a suction tube that was then routed to a central point where all six tubes were connected via a series of pumps so that fuel oil on top of the water in the bore holes could be pumped to a holding tank for disposal.
Asymmetric timers were used to control the pumps and Autoclude opted for its M3000 peristaltic pump with polyurethane tubing that allowed chemical compatibility with the diesel fuel. It was also believed to provide better tube life than more expensive fluoroelastomer tubing. A drip tray fitted with a float switch was mounted beneath the pumps. More articles from Autoclude Ltd: | 
