Original Date: 08/08/1994
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

Aggressive efforts to reduce disposal and related costs associated with spent machine lubricating oils have resulted in significant savings for CSTA. Prior to making recent changes in the way that spent coolants were treated, CSTA was purchasing and disposing of 400-600 gallons of coolant per year. This usage was excessive, and the related machine down time resulted in 300-400 man hours of lost productivity from time spent in cleaning machines and replacing spent coolants.

Improvements include introducing a bactericide to the coolants and using an inexpensive oil skimmer manufactured by Master Chemical Corporation to skim off machine oils. Future improvements consist of a total coolant management plan, introduction of a filtering system to reuse the coolant, and implementation of a environmental separation and purification system.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.