Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Recycled Motor Oils Help the Environment

 

LEOLA, PA – If you’re like many car owners, you pride yourself on getting an oil change every 3,000 miles to keep your car in top working condition. But, have you ever considered what happens to all the used motor oils drained from cars each day? Unfortunately, much of the oil is hauled away and disposed of, putting the environment at risk. Not so at Cloister Car Wash & Lube in Pennsylvania, where they recycle 40,000 gallons of used motor oil each year.

 

By recycling the used motor oil on site through Clean Burn Used-Oil Coil Tube Boilers, Cloister Car Wash & Lube is able to generate hot water for radiant floor heating and to use in the car wash along with hot air that’s pumped back to heat the company’s quick lube operation.

 

            “Clean Burn products help our company play a responsible environmental stewardship role in the communities where we operate,” says Mike Mountz, owner, Cloister Car Wash & Lube. “Transporting used oils from our facilities to disposal areas is an expensive effort that always contains the potential for spills and environmental contamination. By having our own used-oil recycling systems on site, we eliminate this liability while doing something positive with the used motor oils that are generated in our daily operations.

 

            “The boilers and furnaces from Clean Burn are a good fit for us from a business standpoint. More importantly, the units eliminate potential dangers to the local environment that can happen if used motor oils are not recycled properly. We live in the communities we operate in so our decision to recycle our own used-oil on site impacts each of us personally.”

 

            In addition to the positive environmental aspects, Cloister Car Wash & Lube has found that the energy generated from the Clean Burn units provides inexpensive hot water for its car wash operations and snow melt.

 

            “We’ve invested in Clean Burn units for the past 11 years because they’re a critical part of our successful operations,” says Mountz. “As we’ve grown in locations, we’ve added in used-oil coil tube boilers and hot air units as part of our standard practices. These units are an economical way for us to dispose of our used motor oils, transmission fluid and other fluids while gaining back on-site energy recovery. This makes a great deal of economic and environmental sense. I believe the return-on-investment is strong for any facility with oil change operations.”

 

Another company recycling used motor oil is McCormick Motors in Indiana. Before installing their Clean Burn used-oil recycling furnace in 1998, McCormick Motors paid to have 11,000 gallons of used motor oil removed from their facility each year. Today, with four furnaces in place, they remove just a 55 gallon drum of used-oil yearly. And, more impressively, they abandoned their old boiler system and have had flat energy bills for the past ten years while using energy from the recycled oil to heat their 40,000-square foot service center and showroom.

 

“We recycle almost 10,000 gallons of used-oils each year with our Clean Burn units,” according to Gordon Moore, vice president of McCormick Motors in Nappanee, Indiana. “The energy savings are significant. However, the most important aspect is that we’ve eliminated our liability for transporting the used-oils to a disposal site and we’re doing something positive for the environment.”

 

Clean Burn products are used widely in the truck fleet industry, by fast lube service centers, in automobile dealerships and in the heavy construction industry. In addition, the RV, home building and marine industries are also finding valuable uses for Clean Burn products to offset rising energy costs. Clean Burn’s Used-Oil Coil Tube Boilers recycle used oils into hot water technology for use in car washes, baseboard and in-floor heating, and ice melt applications. The company’s Low Profile Used-Oil Furnaces are ideal for small to mid-sized facilities, and those areas with limited ceiling heights. These systems can be utilized as unit heaters or can be ducted as central furnaces. Hot air discharge louvers can be installed to direct heat precisely where it’s needed in a facility.

 

For large auto or truck fleet service centers, the Clean Burn Large Volume Used-Oil Furnaces provide high volume heating capacity along with a patented true heat exchanger that delivers more heat. These systems can be used as unit heaters or can be ducted as central furnaces. Finally, the Used-Oil Recycling Center from Clean Burn is a self-contained, on-site recycling and heating system that allows businesses to store and burn used oil conveniently and efficiently. The Recycling Center works in tandem with Clean Burn used-oil furnaces and has a UL-listed 250 gallon storage tank that supplies oil to the furnace.

 

Clean Burn holds numerous industry certifications and works with the U.S. government, the Environmental Protection Agency and various associations to help coordinate the establishment of standards and regulations related to heat recovery and recycling efforts involving used motor oils. For more information on Clean Burn, visit www.cleanburn.com or call 1-800-331-0183.

No comments:

Post a Comment