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Common Industrial
Applications
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Case
Studies |
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Accumulation In Pits/Sumps/Basins Copper chip removal curbs downtime and improves solvent recovery system - With the installation of a LAKOS Separator to help clean up the solvent in their degreasing still, Cerro Copper Products in East St. Louis, Illinois reduced the maintenance to their solvent recycling system by 80%. Not only does the LAKOS Separator remove the troublesome copper chips, it also offers Cerro Copper a convenient means for recovering the solvent. And the whole process is achieved automatically with a LAKOS Auto-Purge System to periodically flush the separated solids into a drum for easy handling. Metal refinery eliminates sump clean-up problems - A wet scrubber operation at a platinum refining facility was experiencing shutdowns as often as every other month, consisting of four days' work by a three-man crew. LAKOS Separators and LAKOS Tank-Sweeping Eductors were employed to prevent accumulation in their sump and automatically concentrate solids for easy disposal. Parts washer keeps system clean with LAKOS - A steel shelving manufacturer employs LAKOS Separators to recycle its wash water, prevent accumulation in its sump, protect its spray nozzles from plugging/wear and avoid system downtime. Ford improves coolant re-use with LAKOS - For its reaming operations at the Lima Engine Plant in Ohio, Ford installed a LAKOS Separator to achieve 3-micron clarity in removing grinding swarf & fines from its recirculated coolant. Deluge autobody wash process relies on LAKOS - Employed in all of their plants, a major automaker installs LAKOS Separators to remove the weld balls and other solid contaminants from its body wash and pre-phosphate bath operations, helping to reduce paint defects by as much as 85%. Chain tunnel broach operation improved with LAKOS - The manufacture of forged steel rods for a major Midwest USA diesel engine plant requires a worm-way dispersal of coolant to the cutting tool. Clogged with fines and faced with excessive shutdowns, a LAKOS Separator was installed to remove the troublesome solids and eliminate the shudowns, increasing productivity dramatically. Surface grinding finds value with LAKOS - Installed after an indexing paper filter and prior to a fine cartridge filter, a LAKOS Separator removes troublesome cast iron fines from coolant with such efficiency that the cartridge filter rarely needs cartridge replacement for an automotive plant in Michigan. Gun drilling of cylinder heads threatens high pressure pumps - Replacing both paper filters and cartridges, a LAKOS Separator removes aluminum fines from coolant on a Lamb aluminum drilling operation to increase productivity. Water-cooled welders avoid costly damage with LAKOS - The Newcor Seam Welders at a major auto plant in Michigan were cracking from overheating on a weekly basis until LAKOS Separators were installed to prevent the plugging of the cooling water lines to these machines. Snack food processors find success with new filtration technology - A number of major international snack food producers and french fry processors have experienced improved fines/crumb removal from the flow of oil within the fryer with LAKOS Separators. The specially modified separators replaced old technologies such as fines belts and box and drum filters. Additional benefits from the use of LAKOS Separators in cooking oil filtration applications are reduced potential for fryer fires, longer fryer run time before boil-outs, better protection of heat exchangers, better fryer operation and reduced maintenance costs. Cooling towers and other heat transfer applications are among the most popular LAKOS applications. Information can be found here. Heat exchangers are among the most common uses of LAKOS products. Detailed information can be found here. Industrial/Municipal Water Supply City commits to sand-free water - Phoenix, Arizona has over 16 LAKOS Separators installed on the discharge of its water well pumps to keep sand out of its water supply. With an increasing population and industrial base demanding clean water, it is also important that sand not accumulates in their piping matrix or wear out their water meters (which could affect accurate readings and revenue potential). Industrial operation protects water softeners and boiler - Simpson Timber Company in Northern California uses a steam boiler process to cure some 50 million feet of lumber every year. A LAKOS Separator is installed on the discharge of their water well pump to keep sand out of their system and prevent clogging of their system's specialty valves. Cotton farmer extends pump life & efficiency - When the groundwater used for irrigating a cotton farm near Phoenix, Arizona became excessively sandy, pump wear became a large annual cost and pump efficiency dropped off from 75% to 45%, causing higher energy costs as well. Adding a LAKOS Pump Protection Separator extended the pump's operating life four times longer and helped maintained better efficiency for reduced overall operating costs. Homeowner protects pump and saves money - Installing a LAKOS Separator to protect his landscape sprinklers and home appliances from abrasive sand, a central California rural homeowner later added a submersible Pump Protection Separator to also increase the life of his pump and reduce the costs of repairing & replacing the pump. Produced water system reduces downtime with LAKOS - At a Renaissance Energy site in southwest Saskatchewan, sand in the free water knock out (FWKO) and heater-treater tank was causing an extensive system shutdown every 4-5 months before LAKOS Separators were installed to eliminate the sand accumulation and lost efficiency. Savings attributable to the increased productivity exceed $100,000 per year at this site alone. Other sites have all now been targeted for LAKOS installations. Separator protects oil/water cyclone at waterflood injection site - Replacing a bag filter system with greater efficiency, lower pressure loss and reduced maintenance capabilities, a special 600 psi LAKOS Separator extends the life of an oil/water hydrocyclone by removing abrasive sand from produced water used for injection well applications. Sandy river water cleaned with LAKOS for injection wells - Removing sand from river water prior to use for injection wells, a LAKOS Separator helps Crestar Energy in Alberta, Canada avoid extensive maintenance on their final stage ultrafiltration before high pressure injection. Waterflood injection wells depend on LAKOS - Over fifty injection well systems at the Denver City, Texas oil fields of Shell Oil Company rely on LAKOS Separators to protect their high-pressure injection pumps from sand & grit abrasion. Installed on the discharge of their water well pumps before feeding water to the injection pumps, the LAKOS Separators help maintain the porosity and permeability of the underground formations for optimum oil recovery operations. Hydrogen cooler & condenser system solves chronic shutdown problems - Removing sediment, rust, scale and debris from its recirculated cooling water, an eastern USA power plant installed a LAKOS Separator prior to its shell & tube heat exchanger to virtually eliminate its costly shutdown for cleaning every 6-8 weeks. Additionally, LAKOS Separators were used to remove precipitated solids caused by their non-chemical corrosion prevention process for its condenser water. Separator curbs backwashing and reduces media replacement - A zeolite media filter at the University of Michigan is protected from sand and grit by a LAKOS Separator to prevent excessive fouling, clogging and channeling of the media filter. Backwashing, an 8-hour process once performed twice a week, is now only needed once a month, saving water and reducing downtime. The water is used at their medical research facility. LAKOS reduces maintenance on ejector tower's integral strainer - The descaling of manufactured wire rod at National Wire Products in Baltimore, Maryland results in scale, grit and dry lubricant fouling its cooling water. To eliminate the weekly cleaning of the tower's strainer, LAKOS Separators were installed and, according to a plant spokesman, "reduced cooling tower problems by 95%". Glycol filtration process improved with LAKOS - Suffering excessive and expensive cartridge filter replacements and unable to specify the desired level of filtration quality, a Southern California natural gas plant added a LAKOS Separator to its gas conditioning dehydration system and quickly overcame both problems. Installed as a pre-filter to existing cartridges, the LAKOS Separator reduced cartridge replacement from as often as every other day to as seldom as every 7-10 days. In addition, the cartridges have been upgraded from 50-micron to 25-micron elements to better protect the overall system from dirt, scale, rust and reaction products. Separators protect cooling tower operations from fouling and lost efficiency - In the manufacturing of carbon, alloy and stainless plate steels, Lukens Steel Company in Coatsville, Pennsylvania employs water contact cooling, which results in troublesome metal oxides in the water that passes through their cooling towers. Using LAKOS Separators, Lukens has extended the life of their towers by more than 5 years by reducing nozzle plugging, tower basin accumulation, fill contamination, etc. Descaling nozzles protected with LAKOS Separators - Tripling the life of their over 1,000 descaling nozzles, California Steel roll mill operation in Southern California also enjoys reduced wear to their high pressure pumps, the elimination of downtime & maintenance to their spray headers and overall better product quality. Plate mill eliminates costly downtime - Plugged spray nozzles & manifolds, troublesome "orange peel" roll damage and unsatisfactory product shape led California Steel to replace its strainers and self-cleaning filters with LAKOS Separators. Immediate results included the elimination of nozzle replacements (once recorded at 100 per week), no spray manifold problems, improved roll cooling efficiency and better product shape. Overall, annual savings in excess of $50,000 were attributed to the LAKOS Separator's ability to reduce downtime and increase operating efficiency. Waterflood injection wells depend on LAKOS - Over fifty injection well systems at the Denver City, Texas oil fields of Shell Oil Company rely on LAKOS Separators to protect their high-pressure injection pumps from sand & grit abrasion. Installed on the discharge of their water well pumps before feeding water to the injection pumps, the LAKOS Separators help maintain the porosity and permeability of the underground formations for optimum oil recovery operations. Municipal drainage system protects pumps with LAKOS Separators - Storm water run-off is collected in several sumps throughout the city of Ville de Dax in France. To prevent the accumulation of sand, grit & sediment . . . and to protect their expensive, high-volume transfer pumps from abrasive wear & damage, LAKOS Separators are employed to remove and concentrate the solids into barrels for easy disposal. Fruit washing operation saved by LAKOS - At a Tropicana facility in Bradenton, Florida, sand not only clogged their wash water spray nozzles, but also wore out piping and pumps to the tune of $6,000 bi-monthly. In addition, a service was called in sometimes weekly, at a cost of $1,000 per day, to clean their wash water pits. Purging into an auger which fills a hopper every 20 minutes, a 2-stage LAKOS Separator system has instead eliminated these costs and even allowed Tropicana to install a more efficient pump without fear of premature wear and failure. The plant manager claims that the LAKOS system is the most reliable equipment in his entire operation. Spray nozzle protection for steel barrel maker - The oil coating used on its steel to prevent rusting is eventually washed off at Russell-Stanley Corporation in Houston, Texas using high temperature caustic water. Shipping & storage results in a lot of grit adhering to the steel, which plugs the spray nozzles in their recirculating wash water system. Bag filters were no help, due to excessive maintenance and bag change-outs. LAKOS Separators with automatic purge valves have eliminated the spray nozzle plugging and saved over 30 hours per week in maintenance/servicing routines. Fruit washing operation saved by LAKOS - At a Tropicana facility in Bradenton, Florida, sand not only clogged their wash water spray nozzles, but also wore out piping and pumps to the tune of $6,000 bi-monthly. In addition, a service was called in sometimes weekly, at a cost of $1,000 per day, to clean their wash water pits. Purging into an auger which fills a hopper every 20 minutes, a 2-stage, 800 U.S. gpm LAKOS Separator system has instead eliminated these costs and even allowed Tropicana to install a more efficient pump without fear of premature wear and failure. The plant manager claims that the LAKOS system is the most reliable equipment in his entire operation. Snowmaking machine's nozzles protected with LAKOS - Using a series of fine spray nozzles in each snowmaker, Snowtech in Sunne, Sweden relies on LAKOS Separators to keep sand & silt from plugging their systems. Drawing from different water sources (wells, river, pond), these machines require particle-free water and must operate without fail during the night when snowmaking must be done to be ready for the next day's skiing. Wet scrubber operation saves water and recovers valuable solids - Reducing water consumption by 90% and recovering an expensive poly-blast media used in its wet scrubber process to reduce static electricity for plastic deflashing operations, a Massachusetts-based manufacturer credits LAKOS Separators with an overall reduction of their maintenance by 70%. Foundry improves plant efficiency with LAKOS Separators - Not only did the Sandusky Foundry & Machine Company of Ohio reduce its cooling water strainer maintenance from daily cleaning to simple bi-monthly inspection only, they now concentrate the separated grit & scale for easy disposal and completely re-use their water, avoiding costly make-up water. Municipal park irrigation system switches to free surplus water - Eliminating their dependence on the sometimes scarce and always expensive water it receives from the city, the Salt Lake County Recreation & Parks Department in Utah relies on LAKOS Separators to remove troublesome particle matter from the surplus water it receives from a variety of sources for irrigating its parks and landscape properties. These sources include the local Kennicott Copper Refinery, which otherwise would have to dump its particle-laden discharge water. |
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