Here is a letter I wrote to a customer who was getting some inquiries from his home office regarding what other shops in their company are doing with used antifreeze. Take note of the 2 sample lab reports as well.
Jerry Schroeder
VanderHaags Inc.
1423 E. 54th, Street North
Sioux Falls, SD. 57104
RE: On Site processing
Dear Jerry,
Thank you for the opportunity to speak about the changes going on in your Council Bluffs store regarding the used antifreeze they generate. You indicated to me that that store is using an on-site service to recycle the used coolant and reselling the product.
On-site processing is how I began in the industry in 1996. At the time the federal regulations for transport of used antifreeze were stringent due to the possibility of hazardous waste because of elevated lead levels that could be found in spent coolant. In 1997 the fed changed the standard due to the fact that spent coolant did not contain lead at previous levels due to changes in the vehicle industry, principally the removal of lead solder used anywhere in the cooling system. That is why, unless proven otherwise, the presumption is that used antifreeze is a non-hazardous waste.
This proved to be a great development for product quality for us and many other businesses around the country due to the fact that off-site processing allows a recycler, such as myself, to employ much more aggressive processing methods to purify the product. We can then offer a finished product that is the equal to new in effectiveness of inhibitor and new product durability.
The drawbacks to on-site processing are best illustrated by the 2 laboratory examples attached:
1: The lab analysis of a typical batch of our product shows NO dissolved metals, no contaminants from tap water often used to dilute concentrated new product such as Chlorides, water scale components (Calcium, Magnesium) or sulfates. Elevated levels of any of these elements leads to accelerated corrosion in the system and creates scaling potential.
2: We are able to remove the residual additive package. This eliminates another problem, scaling. Chemicals used to inhibit corrosion remain in solution when they are at a balanced level. Overmedicating, if you will, with additional inhibitor without removing the residual creates a situation where the chemicals will scale the heat transfer surfaces and create real operational problems for your customers. This is especially so for the trucking industry, where Supplementary Coolant additives (scas) are used to remove the threat of liner pitting. Many fleet operations or owner operators keep on adding sca and rarely change the coolant out when they should. So you are probably starting out with too much chemical and then adding more without the ability to remove any. This has been our experience with what you typically run into in this segment of the industry. As a result of these facts it is very necessary to employ methods that can remove residual additive chemicals.
On Site processing is very limited as to the ability to reduce dissolved metals and water scale. The nature of equipment used to remove aqueous contaminants like chlorides, water scale and residual conventional or extended life additive chemicals prevents it from being transportable. This is why we went away from on-site methods, we could not satisfy customers like you who demand a product that they can use with the utmost confidence. The heavy duty market was virtually off limits to us until we were able to demonstrate analytically we could compare to new. This is the reason why more and more Fleet operations and HD Truck and equipment repair shops are using our products as we save them 30 to 60% compared to new with no compromise on product quality, whether that is conventional or extended life products.
If you have any further questions or want advanced technical help for specific situations we are only a call away. Thanks for your time.
Sincerely,
Robert J. Kolhoff
President ARI.
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