Lab Reports

Maratek Environmental Lab Reports

If you believe that your waste stream is out of the ordinary there is no need to worry. Maratek Environmental is able to perform, for a fee, feasibility tests on your liquid waste samples in order to provide you with the best solution.

Here is an example of a test performed by the Maratek Environmental labs.

CUSTOMER:

XYZ Paper Company

SOLVENT TO BE TESTED:

Solvent waste stream sample provided is purported to contain 7 main solvents – percentage of each is unknown. Solvents are:

1-Denatured Alcohol	(Comet UN-1170 – BP 79 oC, D = 0.791)
2-Ethyl Acetate	(Comet UN-1173 – BP 77 oC, D = 0.902)
3-sopropyl Alcohol	(Comet UN-1219 – BP 82 oC, D = 0.786)
4-n-Propyl Alcohol	(Comet UN-1274 – BP 97 oC, D = 0.805)
5-n-Propyl Acetate	(Comet UN-1276 – BP 102 oC, D = 0.888)
6-Propyl Cellosolve	(Comet UN-1993 – BP 150 oC, D = 0.916)
7-Mineral Spirits	(Comet UN-1268 – BP 195 oC, D = 0.786
MSDS sheets were provided by XYZ Paper Company

OBJECTIVE OF TEST:

Recover solvents from waste stream. Observe if recycling requires vacuum and the form and quantity of residues. Determine best type of equipment to recycle waste stream at end user given solvent waste is generated at a rate of 90-gallons per day.

DESCRIPTION OF ORIGINAL WASTE STREAM:

Appearance	Dark, opaque liquid.
Color	Black
Net Sample Volume	13.1 liters
Net Sample Weight	12.2 kg.
Sample Density	0.94 kg/l

SOLVENT TEST PROCEDURE

Using an Omega RS-6AV introduce complete waste stream sample for recycling. Begin with a low oil jacket temperature and no vacuum. Observe recovery, and slowly keep increasing oil jacket temperature. Once Jacket temperature reaches 180 oC and there remains solvent in the still process then switch to vacuum mode and again observe recovery. Objective is to distil all liquid & remain with residues only.

SOLVENT TEST SUMMARY

Volume to be tested: ≈ 13.1 liters
Equipment used : RS-6 (atmospheric pressure – vacuum system is disabled)

TIME	THC °C	THS °C	VACUUM	DISTILLATE	COMMENT
9:30	20	20	N/A	NO	Test Start
10:25	74	70	N/A	NO	Few Drops
10:45	80	71	N/A	Clear Steady Flow	In 8 min recovered 325 ml (2.4 l/hr)
10:55	85	71	N/A	Clear Steady Flow
11:22	86	71	N/A	Clear Steady Flow	In 8 min recovered 325 ml (2.4 l/hr)
11:31	95	71	N/A	Clear Steady Flow
11:46	95	72	N/A	Clear Steady Flow	In 3 min recovered 325 ml (6.5 l/hr)
11:50	100	72	N/A	Clear Steady Flow
12:39	98	72	N/A	Clear Steady Flow
12:40	110	72	N/A	Clear Steady Flow	In 4 min recovered 325 ml (4.8 l/hr)
1:00	112	73	N/A	Flow Diminishing
2:00	111	92	N/A	No Flow	Still shell empty. Only solid residues left in chamber

Total distillate recovered	12.5 liters
Weight of recovered distillate	10.6 kg
Density of recovered solvent	0.85 kg / liter
Weight of residues	0.18 kg

RESULTS SUMMARY:

	VOLUME (Liter)	DENSITY (Kg/L)	WEIGHT (Kg)	% OF TOTAL WEIGHT
ORIGINAL	13.1	0.94	12.2	-----
DISTILLATE	12.5	0.85	10.6	87
RESIDUES	----	----	0.18	1.5
TOTALS			10.78	88.5

RESULTS ANALYSIS:

It is obvious that from the test results that there was none – or very little – of solvents (3) to (7). Vacuum was never required to distil the complete solvent sample - although it is evident from the MSDS of solvent (7) that a vacuum would be needed. Furthermore the density of the distillate (0.85) demonstrates that the constitution of the distillate is weighted more towards solvent (2) and a mixture of the other solvents. Without a detailed chemical analysis it is impossible to have precise knowledge of the makeup of the distillate.

The total weight loss of 1.42 kg can easily be attributed to the following factors;

Weight of the samples taken during the test.
Losses in condenser coil.
Handling losses.
Instrument and measurement errors

There were no vapour emissions during the test.

From the results of the waste sample it seems that the residues constitute only 1.5% of the waste stream. This seems relatively low and should be considered as a low value for equipment selection.

In general the solvent waste sample provided distilled easily, providing a consistently clear distillate, free of cross-contamination and coloring.

The residues remaining following the completion of the distillation process were in solid form, indicating that the final equipment will need to either have a liner bag or an internal scraper. As to the vacuum, if future waste is identical to the sample provided, the final unit will not require a vacuum. However, if the waste stream to be treated will contain solvent (7) then a vacuum system will be required in the final unit.

Original -> Recovered Solvent -> Residues

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