International waste-to-product company Shanks Group has launched a hazardous waste ultrasonic cleaning service in the Netherlands, which it says will increase volumes and improve efficiency.
Reym, part of Shanks’ Hazardous Waste Division, uses the technology for cleaning large pipe bundles from refineries. The pipes are put into the ultrasonic cleaning unit where sound waves are transmitted through a cleaning liquid, causing vacuum bubbles to be created, which then collapse.
The implosion of the vacuum bubbles gives a scrubbing effect, which loosens the dirt from the object being cleaned. The contamination is then removed in the chemical cleaning liquid.
While opticians and jewelers have been using ultrasonic cleaning for many years to clean jewelry and glasses, until recently, large-scale and high-powered ultrasonic cleaning systems did not exist in Europe. Reym’s ultrasonic cleaning unit is unique in that it has a lift system that uses a bed with roller banks to safely lift materials into and out of the liquid.
