Newalta is the market leader for waste management and environmental services for industrial customers throughout Canada. The corporation operates more than 85 facilities across the country, with a current workforce of approx. 2,000 people.

An important part of Newalta’s activities includes processing drilling and production waste from oilfields, recovering oil from slop tank cleaning, and cleaning up storage areas in which slop oil was previously simply dumped untreated.

Taking business to the customer As part of Newalta’s focus on ensuring its customers “single-source” waste management service solutions, the company was interested in tackling clients’ needs at source, providing both short and long-term waste processing capabilities that minimize off-site disposal and reduce transport costs.

These on-site project capabilities were planned to enable Newalta to bring the full force of its capabilities, know-how and technology to bear on client requirements – exactly where, as and when needed.

As part of the company’s preparations for tackling this prom-ising new market, Newalta tested and evaluated a range of three-phase decanter centrifuges from different suppliers.

They were looking for an effective, reliable mobile solution that could be transported to Newalta’s customer sites as and when required.

Tests, answers and decisions Newalta operators have considerable experience in dealing with demanding three-phase separation duties, and have already successfully operated both Alfa Laval decanter centri-fuges and disc stack centrifuges for many years.

It was therefore a natural step for Alfa Laval to approach Newalta to include testing a prototype of the new LYNX 35 specialist drilling mudslop oil decanter centrifuge in a comparative evaluation with other models.

Newalta’s test procedures revealed some minor modifica-tions that needed to be made, and Newalta then purchased the test unit. Additional new LYNX 35 units were ordered and delivered in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Newalta currently operates a total of six LYNX 35 units, each built into a semi-trailer that is also equipped with polymer dosing, tanks, pumps, solids conveyors and two Alfa Laval spiral heat exchangers

Mobile solutions ensure greater flexibilityNewalta’s on-site services for slop oil treatment Case story

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Mobile results For Newalta, the aim was to obtain either water or oil of the best quality feasible in each set of circumstances, with the solids phase removed.

In some cases, the relatively clean water could be treated still further on site, while the remaining slop oil with its more chal-lenging emulsions could be transported to one of Newalta’s fixed facilities for additional processing. This also boosted the company’s ability to effectively exploit existing capacity.

Newalta’s testing revealed that the LYNX 35 had downtime-free operating periods more than 300% longer than the

closest competitor, and was able to cope satisfactorily with all the different feed compositions encountered. The test also revealed that at lower feed rates the LYNX 35 equipment was able to achieve good results on both oil and water streams simultaneously.

Newalta experts noted that with the right combination of chemicals it was possible to – at one end of the spectrum – extract pipe-grade oil from slop oil and at the other extreme to process slop oil normally considered untreatable and thus relegated to mere disposal and storage in ponds and caverns.

“I have not seen any three-phase decanter centrifuge perform better than the LYNX 35,” says Len Stahn, Process Optimization, Newalta Corporation

LYNX 35 slop oil decanter centrifuge built into a semi-trailer equipped with polymer dosing, tanks, pumps, solids conveyors and two Alfa Laval spiral heat exchangers

Technical data of LYNX 35

Water flow* 1 – 15 m3/h (4-66 GPM)Oil flow* 1 – 10 m3/h (4-44 GPM)Solids flow* 1 – 5 m3/h (4-22 GPM)Maximum speed 3,650 rpmCentrifugal force up to 3,574 GDifferential speed range 2-40 rpmSolids capacity Up to 12 ton/h (26,000 lbs)Main power 90 kW (125 Hp)Backdrive power 15 kW (20 Hp)Dry weight of decanter unit 5,000 kg (11,000 lbs)

*Typical values, contact Alfa Laval for details