Recycling Spent Abrasives, Walther Trowal Vibratory Bowls and Glass Beads

Happy Holidays from Surface Preparation. Since our last edition of Surface Finishing Solutions our Southern California location has been experiencing yet another destructive wild fire season, which prompted us to include mold and fire restoration as an Application Solution article this month. We hope that you find it informative.

Recycling Spent Abrasives

Environmental regulations seem to become more stringent every day for businesses.

Managing the waste stream from your production process has become not only a matter of the law, but there are also significant economic, public relations, and environmental stewardship considerations.

Abrasive blasting applications produce a waste stream comprised primarily of spent abrasive dust. Generally the abrasive dust itself is inert and non-hazardous. The problem typically comes from the material that is being blasted, either because the coating or contaminant contains hazardous components or the surface substrate itself may produce a hazardous dust when it's blasted.

Even the disposal of non-hazardous material from abrasive blasting can have a negative environmental impact because it ends up in a land fill.

Luckily there's a very "green" solution that is also economically sound. Surface Preparation, along with our recycling partner, can supply you with most loose abrasive on a "Lease and Recycle" (L&R) basis.

The bottom line of an L&R program is that it provides a closed loop for our customers that includes the shipment of new abrasive media to your plant, return of the spent material to the recycling center, and production of a useful end product from the spent media, typically decorative concrete block as pictured above.

All of the shipping, labeling, packaging, and recycling costs are included in a single price for the L&R abrasives. This eliminates the need to report or manifest hazardous material disposal, because the material is not being disposed of when it's in a recycling loop.

In some cases you may receive "credits" or off-sets from your local environmental agency for the materials that you recycle versus dispose of.

Our L&R program is suitable for both hazardous and non-hazardous waste streams so there's no need to separate these streams. The program has been approved and is used extensively by the US Military in their effort to reduce their environmental impact.

Contact Us today to see if your operation could benefit from an abrasive lease and recycle program. Whether your motivation is legal, economic, or environmental, the Surface Preparation L&R program makes good business sense.

Walther Trowal Vibratory Bowls

Walther Trowal vibratory bowls are probably the single most versatile mass finishing machine you can own. A vibratory bowl works by combining a batch of the parts to be finished with a ceramic or plastic tumbling media, water, and a soap compound. This finishing "mass" is then subject to the vibrating action of the machine which grinds the media against the work. A vibratory bowl can be used for removing burrs, generating a radius, improving a surface finish, degreasing, descaling, and many other applications. The Trowal CD Series features a lubricated for life direct drive motor, built in parts and media separation, and a media unload plug. Click on the image above to learn more about the full line of Walther Trowal Vibratory Bowls.

Glass Beads

Glass Beads are a round, non-ferrous abrasive suitable to a wide range of applications in both pressure and suction blasting equipment. Glass beads will produce a cosmetically attractive matte finish and are an excellent choice for carbon removal from automotive parts, finishing aluminum, cleaning certain types of cast molds, and many other cleaning or surface finishing applications. Click on the image above to learn more about glass beads and other abrasives available from Surface Preparation.

Fire and Mold Remediation

Architectural restoration and remediation has become a big business.

Regrettably, as urban sprawl pushes residences closer and closer to the wilderness, the danger of both human and property damage from wildfires has increased significantly.

Separately, the health problems and resultant litigation associated with residential mold contamination are in the news regularly. Both of these are big problems looking for safe and environmentally sound solutions. Air blasting with ARMEX® sodium bicarbonate media has proven to be an excellent choice for a wide range of architectural surfaces in both of these applications. Click on the image above to learn more about ARMEX fire and mold remediation solutions.