Improve your plant’s safety,

financial, and environmental

performance
Bulldozing the tank clean. Utilizing manpower.
Loading and transporting waste materials.

For many facilities, the conventional tank cleaning practice is expensive and
risky. But FQE Chemicals offers a chemical tank cleaning methodology
that’s changing the industry standard. No crew member enters the tank, no
hazardous waste is emitted, and up to 98% of your oil is recovered!

Step 1
Recoverable hydrocarbon extraction
FQE Chemicals personnel blend a hydrocarbon diluent (cutter stock) with
the selected chemical additives (FQE™ Solvent-H) and establish liquid
circulation loops. Sludge deposits, which would otherwise remain as solids
for disposal, are liquefied and can be pumped from the tank more efficiently
for further processing. The liquid circulation loops are established by the
use of standard pumping equipment and through manway and roof-
mounted cleaning nozzles that can be directed to any location within the
tank.
Step 2
Tank degassing and polishing
cleaning
After the hydrocarbon extraction phase is complete, the tank is degassed
and cleaned of any nominal hydrocarbons by use of state of the art
degassing / decontamination chemistry. These products are non-hazardous
water encapsulants which perform to scrub the tank air space of all
hydrocarbon vapours and clean the tank interior surfaces of residual oil
films.

Minimal wastewater is pumped from the tank and processed to separate

the residual oils
Oils are recovered and wastewater has low chemical oxygen demand
numbers
Tank is now completely gas free: any solids that remain can be removed
by using vacuum methods, minimizing labour involvement

FQE Chemicals proprietary tank cleaning process enables you to clean

your tanks chemically in a closed loop environment. First, our chemists
custom engineer a solution that liquefies the sludge deposits in your tank
that would typically be removed mechanically. Then we blend the solution
with a cutter stock and extract the content using standard circulation
processes. Lastly, the tank is degassed and polished chemically, achieving
a superior level of surface and air cleanliness. And it’s all done without the
entry of people or the exit of contaminated waste.
The result?
Less exposure to safety risk
Lower project costs
Recovered hydrocarbons
Less environmental harm

Improve safety performance

Our chemical tank cleaning methodology doesn’t require personnel to enter
the tank; all work is performed in a closed loop system. Our chemicals are
the only thing that works inside. Plus, all of the hazardous materials are
flushed out of the tank without people being exposed to them.

Typical sludge-reduction tank

cleaning operation
Improve financial performance
This methodology can create millions of dollars’ worth of financial value
plant wide. It’s a significant change in the way the world’s most efficient
facilities will deal with tank management.

SLASHING DISPOSAL COSTS

The disposal of hazardous waste from your tank can cost between two and
four times as much as the actual cleaning of it! Hazardous waste disposal is
one of the industry’s most costly burdens, and the fees and potential fines
grow increasingly more expensive. Packaging. Transportation. Storage.
Then the disposal itself. It really adds up.

With our chemical tank cleaning process, organic solids are dissolved
inside the tank, letting you avoid expensive hazardous waste disposal
expenses. Only non-hazardous materials are left. And with those costs
relatively attractive, you’ve just eliminated one of the largest financial tank
cleaning burdens.

EXPEDITING EXECUTION
When you’re facing a narrow turnaround window, our tank cleaning process
can be faster than other conventional methodologies, and unlike
conventional people-intensive processes, our chemicals and equipment can
work 24 hours a day, nonstop. It’s a process that conforms comfortably to
even the most heated emergency outage deadline and can be executed
with relatively little notice.

RECOVERING HYDROCARBONS
With conventional methodologies, solid organic waste inside the tank is
disposed of with great effort and financial loss. Our tank cleaning process
actually lets you recover over 98% of the oil that is present in your tank
when it’s cleaned! Whether you burn the recovered product in a boiler or
turn it into salable product, our methodology lets you recover this
overlooked resource and tremendous value opportunity.