A grand opening of the EQ Thermal Desorption Unit (TDU) was held on a cold and windy December day at EQ’s facility in Belleville, Michigan. Customers, EQ Associates and representatives from our technology partner DuraTherm, Inc. celebrated the grand opening event. The morning started with a presentation about the TDU and its technology, followed by a tour of the unit where participants were able to see how the process works. The celebration then concluded with lunch.
Thermal Desorption technology provides a resource recovery solution to traditional incineration and landfill waste management alternatives. The process separates water, oil, other organics and solids from secondary residuals streams and effectively recovers the hydrocarbon component of petroleum and petrochemical waste for reuse, producing water acceptable for standard waste water treatment and clean solids that meet U.S. EPA Universal Treatment Standards.
EQ partnered with DuraTherm, Inc., a leader in indirect-fired thermal desorption, to provide this solution for its customers. The TDU addresses a variety of waste streams, including oil-contaminated drill cuttings, refinery wastes, petrochemical wastes, hydrocarbon contaminated soils, spent catalysts and other petroleum compatible residuals. An added benefit is that this technology is considered recycling by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
The TDU process will utilize the already existing pretreatment operations at the facility, which includes a Regenerative Thermal Oxidation (RTO) air handling system. The RTO system uniquely qualifies EQ to meet compliance requirements for the EPA’s Subpart CC and Benzene NESHAP regulations. Additionally, any byproducts of the process will be property managed at EQ.