How can Solvent Recycling Save Money?

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Solvent recycling — also known as “solvent recovery” — is the process of eliminating solvent by taking used solvent and separating it from soils it removes during the cleaning process.

Can solvent recycling save money? This is a question organizations often ask before they invest in a recyclable solvent or a parts washing system that facilitates solvent recycling. The short answer is yes, but many organizations also ask: How can solvent recycling save money? We answer the question below.

Reduces Solvent Purchases

Reusing solvent is like reusing anything else: You don’t have to replace the product until its useful lifespan is over. The number of times a recyclable solvent can be reused and achieve top results depends on the solvent, the soils it removes, and the material it removes them from.

In the best case scenario, a solvent can be reused multiple times, and still deliver the efficacy it displayed during initial use. Over time, using a recyclable solvent instead of a non-recyclable one can eliminate buying drums of solvent that would need to be purchased otherwise.

Reduced Waste Disposal

Some large-scale solvent users purge their solvent trap multiple times a month. More often than not, it isn’t just one or two solvents that fill the receptacle. However, even a single solvent — a large volume of which is used daily and captured in the trap — can be a major contributor to filling the reservoir to capacity.

Even if you only have the option of recycling a single solvent, it could significantly reduce waste disposal cost, depending on the volume of the cleaner that normally enters the trap. This factor should be considered when assessing the return on investment (ROI) for a new solvent, or a new parts washing system that performs solvent recycling.

Reduced Chemical Exposure

If you use solvents that are hazardous to humans and the environment, replace them with solvents that are non-toxic. If that currently isn’t an option, using the solvents in a sealed parts washing system that recycles them internally can be a temporary compromise.

Using hazardous solvents in a closed parts washing system doesn’t replace using an air filtration system in the work area or equipping workers with high-level personal protective equipment (PPE). However, any measure you take to reduce exposure helps save money by reducing the chance of chemical injuries and payouts they involve.

Need Recyclable Solvents?

Can solvent recycling save money? The answer is yes. But first, you need to invest in recyclable solvents and/or the equipment needed to recycle them. After examining your solvent needs and cleaning processes, Ecolink can offer advice on making the right selections.

In addition to supplying a stock solvents and custom solvents, we can provide environmentally preferable replacement solvents for cleaners that contain hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). To get started on selecting eco friendly, recyclable solvents, call us today at (800) 563-1305, or use the contact form on our website.

 

 

 

 

chemical and solvent recycling for manufacturers

4 Financial Benefits of Solvent Recovery Systems

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Solvent recovery systems allow solvent to be recycled and reused for cleaning operations. For many organizations, the simplest way to recover solvents is to use them in a pressurized parts washing system that performs solvent recovery automatically, such as by using condensation to separate the solvent from soils it collects during the cycle.

 

Below, we take a brief look at four important financial benefits that come with using solvent recovery systems that operate in this manner. If your company needs guidance on selecting a parts washing system that would make solvent recovery a reality, contact Ecolink to speak with a product specialist.

  1. Reduced Solvent Expense

Because solvent recovery lets you reuse a single application of solvent for multiple cleaning cycles, you naturally use less solvent, which reduces the frequency of your solvent purchases. Considering the cost of best-in-class cleaning solvents, using solvent recovery systems can easily save large-scale users thousands of dollars a month.

  1. Lower Waste Disposal Cost

Large-scale users typically have a big chemical waste disposal bill that reflects the investment they make in cleaning solvent. Parts washers that have solvent recovery systems can perform solvent recovery internally, which keeps the cleaner inside the washer and out of the waste trap. The only substance that enters the waste trap is a mixture of the soils that the cleaning solvent removed during the pressurized parts washing cycle.

  1. Improved ROI for Parts Washer

One factor that impacts the return on investment (ROI) for a parts washing system is how much solvent the equipment uses. Increased productivity is responsible for much of the ROI, but increasing cost savings due to purchasing less solvent can play a part, too. The more times you can recover and reuse a single application of solvent, the faster you break even on your investment in the machine.

  1. Reduced Chemical Exposure

Another benefit of using solvent recovery systems that perform solvent recovery internally, is that workers who operate the systems experience less exposure to potentially harmful fumes, especially when solvent recovery is performed in a sealed chamber.

Any company that’s been on the receiving end of a chemical injury suit knows what a difference reducing chronic chemical exposure can make. When damage from chemical exposure results in chronic, debilitating health conditions, injury settlements can reach into the multiple millions of dollars.

Who We Are

Ecolink is an industry-leading supplier of industrial grade, environmentally preferred and environmentally safe cleaning solutions. We specialize in providing stock solvents and custom, toll blended solvents that have a better safety profile than most early generation solvents, while delivering the same or better power than the hazadous solvents they replace.

To ensure you get the right product, we give you have the option of receiving a free test sample of the solvent you might purchase. To inquire about our products, give us a call today at (800) 563-1305, or fill out the contact form on our website. We look forward to helping you select solvents for your organization’s industrial cleaning requirements.

Solvent Disposal: The Financial Benefits of Solvent Recycling

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Each year, companies and organizations that use solvent cleaners to perform business-critical cleaning operations produce countless tons of waste solvent. Many of these solvent users dispose of waste solvent in the traditional way: By having it removed and hauled away by a waste solvent disposal company that specializes in taking waste solvent out of circulation.

However, there is another, more cost effective option solvent users can choose: Have waste solvent removed by a company that specializes in solvent recycling — a process that removes solute that pollutes waste solvents by applying distillation and fractionation technologies. Choosing this option over traditional waste removal can have important financial benefits.

Supports “Green” Business
In the age of environmental awareness, a company’s reputation with customers and business partners is partly shaped by the eco friendliness of its business practices. Disposing of waste through solvent recycling benefits a company’s image by making it appear “greener” in the eyes of customers and associates. Today, many people prefer to do business with companies that help to protect the environment, and solvent recycling helps your company do exactly that.

  1. Lowers Waste Disposal Cost

Recycling waste solvent is typically a more cost effective option than permanent disposal because the costs associated with the latter practice are eliminated for the recycler. This means that the recycler can pass on the savings and charge you less for “disposing” of your waste solvent. If you use a large volume of cleaning solvent annually, chances are that your waste disposal bill is relatively robust. Reduce the cost by participating in waste solvent recycling.

  1. Reduces Chemical Emissions

Solvent disposal that focuses on recycling helps reduce chemical emissions in two main ways. First, unlike some permanent solvent disposal procedures, solvent recycling typically involves a low level of emissions. Second, because recycled waste solvent can be reused, the burden on solvent manufacturers to produce more solvent is inherently reduced. The lower the volume of solvents that are produced, the lower the volume of emissions that result from producing them.

  1. Lowers Healthcare Costs

Because solvent recycling is a valuable environmental practice as much as it is a profitable business practice, waste solvent recyclers take great care to remove cleaner from waste traps in a manner that lets no dangerous vapors escape. Because waste solvent is removed on a regular basis, workers can be consistently exposed to vapors that escape from the accessed waste trap. Eliminating the exposure helps to reduce negative health conditions in workers.

  1. Reduces Solvent Purchase

Having waste solvent recycled and “purified” to its original form allows companies to reuse the solvent instead of continually acquiring new solvent. You have already paid for the solvent in your waste trap. Why pay for it again in the form of a new product when you can pay less to recycle and reuse the solvent, with the cleaner delivering the same efficacy as before?

Not surprisingly, solvent disposal recycling helps many companies save thousands a year.

Contact Us to Learn More
For more information about the benefits of performing solvent disposal in the form solvent recycling, contact the solvent experts at Ecolink. We support the solvent recycling process and are happy to answer any questions you may have about recycling your particular solvents. We can also provide you with information about which solvents are easiest to recycle in terms of cost and the duration of the recycling process. Give us a call today at (800) 563-1305.

Reusing Solvents: How is It Done and What Are the Benefits?

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Recycling

Recycling

Recycling services are in high demand in almost every industry that produces recyclable waste products, including the industrial cleaning industry, which produces a large volume of waste solvent each year, much of which can be recycled with the assistance of a solvent recycler. Recycling solvents removes the impurities they acquire through the cleaning process. What emerges are “pure” solvents that are ready to be reused. Below is how the process works.

The Solvent Recycling Process
Solvent recycling begins with a solvent recycling company removing spent solvent from the solvent waste trap. During the extraction process, special measures are taken to prevent harmful vapors such as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) from entering the work environment or atmosphere. Once the recycler has removed all waste solvent, it securely transports the cleaner back to the solvent recycling location to begin the process of purifying the tainted solution.

Once at the recycling facility, waste solvent is placed in a machine that removes impurities from the formulation. As the machine works, it separates solute from solvent through a process of distillation and/or fractionation. With distillation, the solvent is separated from the solute that pollutes it by vaporizing the solvent, and then cooling it until it returns to liquid form. During vaporization, the solute separates from the solvent, making it clean and ready to reuse.

With fractionation, the waste solvent is forced through small tubes in a process where it is treated at different temperatures to cause separation of solvent and solute. The result is the same as with distillation: The solvent is purified to its original state and is ready for reapplication.

Five Benefits for Solvent Users
Regardless of the process performed for reusing solvents, the solvent user stands to benefit in several important ways, particularly when the process is applied to all waste solvent produced.

  1. Helps protect the environment, while giving the user a “green” image
  2. Decreases waste disposal costs by using cost effective recycling processes
  3. Reduces chemical emissions by mitigating the need to create more solvent
  4. Reduces healthcare costs by providing a safer environment for workers
  5. Lowers the need to purchase new cleaning solvents

If your company or organization doesn’t participate in the process of reusing solvents, now is a good time to start. In many cases, the only change companies must make is to switch to a waste solvent disposal company that supports the process of reusing solvents. You may have to form a new service agreement with a different disposal company, but the long-term return on investment (ROI) can be quite good when all of the financial benefits are put in perspective.

Need Guidance on Reusing Solvents?
Ecolink recognizes that solvent recycling can benefit our customers in several ways that ultimately increase the bottom line. That is why we support the solvent recycling process and provide advice to our customers in this area. For questions about reusing solvents, call us today at (800) 563-1305. We look forward to helping you put your waste solvent to better use!

 

Does Your Company Practice Solvent Recovery?

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For many companies that use commercial grade and industrial grade solvents, one of the main complications of using them is deciding how to handle solvent recovery. When faced with this situation, many companies choose to have a third party perform the task. When you choose this option, you can receive several important benefits, particularly the ones listed below.

Decreased Disposal Cost
Creating a solvent recovery program in house, and acquiring the equipment needed to support the recovery effort, is often more expensive than simply hiring a solvent recovery specialist to perform the work. With a third party handling the waste recovery effort, you can spend more time on core business functions and delegate solvent disposal to the service provider.

Decreased Lab Waste Stream
If your company uses solvents for laboratory operations, recovering waste solvent from the them can pose a serious problem that a third party waste recovery provider can help to simplify. The provider will arrive on location to remove waste solvents, and then submit them to the solvent recycling process in order to decrease negative impacts on the environment.

Decreased Operations
If you don’t use the services of a solvent recovery company, you are left with the option of creating a recovery operation in house. If your company doesn’t specialize in solvent recovery, it makes the most sense to outsource the process to a company that specializes in performing it. This can prevent you from spending time on a discipline that is not a core practice.

Fewer Scheduling Problems
It is easier to have a solvent recovery specialist recover waste solvent on a scheduled basis than to task in house workers with performing the recovery effort, and forcing them to spend less time on core business functions. A recovery specialist will remove waste solvent on recurring basis, which gives you one less business process to spend time managing.

Decrease Accumulation and Storage
Having a third party perform waste removal on a scheduled basis helps your company decrease the accumulation and storage of waste solvent onsite. Because an accident that releases the waste into the environment could occur, it is important to have a solvent removal company minimize the accumulation and storage of waste solvent by frequently removing it from the work site.

Opportunity to Recycle
In addition to recovering waste solvent, many solvent recovery companies go a step further and recycle the solvent. Recycling a solvent can benefit the environment by reducing chemical emissions, carbon pollution, and energy consumption that commonly result from the process of creating new solvent solutions from scratch.

Contact Ecolink Today
Perhaps the best strategy for decreasing and simplifying solvent recovery is to use an eco friendly cleaning solution from Ecolink. Not only are our solutions good for the environment, but they help reduce chronic exposure to dangerous solvents that can cause neurological damage. For assistance choosing an eco friendly solution that meets the requirements of your current solvent, contact us today at (800) 563-1305, or fill out the contact form on our website.