One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

Tenth annual Partners for 
Environmental Progress event held

By Beth Onderdonk
Marketing Representative

   Mobile area industry leaders were recognized for their environmental stewardship Thursday night at the 5 Rivers Delta, located in Mobile, Alabama.  The awards were part of the tenth annual meeting of the industry nonprofit group Partners for Environmental Progress, which was founded on the guiding principle of promoting business growth while enhancing the environmental and overall quality of life in Mobile-Baldwin County area.

Twelve companies that last year formed the By-Product Synergy Central Gulf Coast Program were recognized for their environmental impact on our nation through this organization. The Mobile-based, non-profit, began its By-Product Synergy programlast May, trying to identify ways in which one company's waste product might be put to use by another company.

For example, Evonik sells chemical by-products such as amomonium chloride to companies that use it as an octane fuel booster and fertilzer additive, resulting in an annual savings of $750,000.00 and waste reduction of 6.7 million pounds, according to Bill Klutz, the facility's environmental manager.

The program diverted more than 18 million punds of material that would have ended up in a landfill, wastewater treatment plant or the other disposal site, including 5,300 tons of hydrochloric, hydroflouric and nitric acid, officials said. The re-use ended up saving participating companies more than $1.6 million.

Partners for Environmental Progress is composed of more than 170 area businesses. PEP also recognized the following companies that have been memebers since their conception, in 2000:

Aaron Oil Company, Inc                                    Millette Administrators, Inc                                
Airgas                                                                   Mitsubushi Polysilicon
Azko Nobel Functional Chemical                    Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce
Alabama Power Co                                            OEC
Associated Builders and Contractors            Olds Filtration Engineering, Inc   
BASF (formerly CIBA)                                         Pipes, Hudson & Watts, LLP
Ben Radcliff Contractors, Inc                            S.J. & L., Inc
E.I Dupont de Nemours & Co                           Safety Source, Inc
Engineered Process Equipment Inc               Shell Chemical
Gulf Coast Marine Supply Company                Star Service of Mobile
Gulf Electric Company                                        Team One Communications
Industrial Valve Sales & Service                       Turner Supply Co
JH Wright & Assoc                                               W.J. May & Assoc
Kemko                                                                    WESCO Gas & welding Supply

Aaron Oil to Help in Recovery of BP Gulf Oil Spill

Aaron Oil is utilizing proprietary processes to break emulsions and provide a recovery outlet for British Petroleum (BP).

Aaron Oil recieved a grant from the International Used Oil Research Institute to develop and test a method to recover and potentially reuse oil from the BP spill.

Aaron Oil is working on seperation technology that has beneficial use for recovered oil, which will allow the oil to be sent to a refinery and energy recovery, which was its intended use.

All material recieved for consideration under this project will be subject to the highest industry operating standards (ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001). Currently, AOC is the only recycling operation in the world that has been audited and certified by both these rigid standards.

The materials being processed and studied by the Research and Development Department at AOC, has all been tested and shown to not be hazardous based on the EPA and all applicable State Regulations that could be impacted by the oil spill.

Beacuse the oil spill is on going, the staff here at Aaron Oil is focused on its critical part of assisting BP and their contractors in finding the most effective recovery solutions and best uses of the recovered oil.