Ravenna Aluminum Foundries

Aluminum foundry eliminates expensive hauling costs.

The Company

Established in 1987, Ravenna Aluminum Foundries has produced more than 20 million castings for customers in a variety of industries. Each piece has been manufactured with the quality and attention to detail that has built the reputation of the FSI Group (Foundry Systems International). The company uses the permanent mold process at their two casting facilities in Northeast Ohio to meet high or low-volume part production needs.

The Challenge

During the manufacturing process, wastewater is generated from spent coolant, floor scrubbing, and parts washing. The annual volume of wastewater had grown over the years to about 80,000 gallons. When the volume was relatively small, hauling the wastewater was the most cost effective option, but as the wastewater volume grew and hauling costs escalated to over $50,000 per year, Ravenna Aluminum began to look for lower-cost options.

The task was to:

• Minimize wastewater disposal cost.
• Minimize operator involve- ment with the disposal equipment in order to better utilize them on revenue generating processes.
• Eliminate sewer discharge and its accountability.
• Minimize operating cost and capital employed.
• Secure a solution with high reliability and consistent uptime.

The Solution

Master Chemical had been supplying Ravenna Aluminum with Trim E206 for a number of years through Cunningham Supply. When Cunningham Supply and Master Chemical’s Joe Ducher became aware of the volume of wastewater and associated hauling cost for spent coolant and other waste streams, they suggested that Ravenna Aluminum consider a Samsco Evaporator.

Ravenna Aluminum welcomed the opportunity to explore Evaporation Technology as a means of minimizing their wastewater and associated hauling cost. Joe Ducher worked with Herb Elliott of Samsco and Glenn Johnson of Ravenna Aluminum to obtain appropriate samples of the wastewater streams. Samsco performed a Laboratory Functional Pilot Test on the wastewater samples to determine their appropriateness for evaporation and to make the best recommendations for a successful installation.

The Functional Pilot Test determined that over 90% of the wastewater could be evaporated and that 316L Stainless Steel construction was appropriate for the application.

Ravenna Aluminum determined that installing the evaporator would save about $45,000 per year in wastewater disposal costs and provide a 6-month payback. Glenn Johnson said that management approval of the project came quickly due to the thorough presentation he was able to make with the Laboratory Functional Pilot test results to accurately predict the evaporator performance, the research on the cost of the equipment, operating and installation costs and the excellent payback.

The Results

The investigation of the evaporator system began in April of 2002. The Laboratory Functional Pilot test results and quotation were presented in early June 2002. The evaporator system including level controls for the existing holding tank, transfer pumps and Air quality Permit Application were purchased from Samsco for a total of $23,360 at the end of July 2002. The system has been up and running since September 2002.

Samsco’s Client Service Group assisted Ravenna Aluminum during initial startup and has been available to answer any questions concerning the operation of the unit.

This is one of three Samsco Wastewater Evaporator systems that Joe Ducher and his distributors sold in 2002. Joe has found that the sale of Samsco Wastewater Evaporators has required a minimum of time and Samsco’s application engineering group has handled the sales process and the Client Service Group has supported the client during installation and start up.

Installation Schematic