Waste Management
Water-soluble metalworking fluid, diluted 1:10–1:20 for use in machining, ages in service: it loses stability, sours with bacterial growth, and saturates with metal fines and spindle oil.
Technology brief
Water-soluble metalworking fluid, diluted 1:10–1:20 for use in machining, ages in service: it loses stability, sours with bacterial growth, and saturates with metal fines and spindle oil.
The challenge
Feedstock: spent water-soluble metalworking fluid (cutting and grinding coolant emulsions), degreasing-line baths, parts-washer solutions, general-profile dilute chemical process solutions. Output: reclaimed technical-grade water returned to the working loop; a concentrated oil fraction ready for reuse; a dry solid fraction (metal fines to scrap, soap fraction reused). End uses: on-site reuse of water and oil; scrap-metal sale of separated fines; disposal volume reduced to a small dry residue instead of the full liquid stream.
ARBOK solution
Water-soluble metalworking fluid, diluted 1:10–1:20 for use in machining, ages in service: it loses stability, sours with bacterial growth, and saturates with metal fines and spindle oil. Current practice is to haul the spent emulsion away as liquid waste, or run a shop's own oil-skimming station — both leave a liquid tail that is paid for again every cycle, and neither returns the water, oil, or metal fraction to use. ARBOK-Emulsion processes the spent solution on site under deep vacuum at ambient temperature: water evaporates and returns to the working cycle at technical grade, the oil phase concentrates and separates as a clean stream ready for reuse, and metal fines and soaps settle out as a dry residue with no liquid tail. The same failure mode — and the same fix — applies to any diluted chemical bath in a plant: degreasing lines, parts washers, rinse tanks, not machine shops alone.
The spent emulsion is fed into the ARBOK-VC unit under deep vacuum at ambient temperature — no external heat is supplied, there is no separate heating loop. Water reaches its boiling point under vacuum at ambient temperature and evaporates, condensing separately for return to the working cycle. The oil phase, immiscible with water and not affected by the phase change, concentrates and separates as its own stream. Metal fines and soap residues, which do not evaporate, settle out as a dry fraction, separated for distinct reuse routes.
Market and application
Global metalworking fluid concentrate consumption is 1.63 bln liters/year (2026), the base behind an estimated 18–34 mln tons/year of diluted working emulsion at typical 1:10–1:20 dilution. In the US, machine shops alone number roughly 17,000; spent-emulsion haul-away runs $0.20–0.50/gallon, with a shop moving 6,000 gallons/month paying $29,000–36,000/year on haul-away alone. Every metal-machining shop, degreasing line, and parts-washing operation running a diluted chemical bath is a candidate.
Avoided haul-away cost, avoided fresh-concentrate repurchase, and avoided landfill or incineration fees on the sludge fraction (full-chain disposal cost currently runs $200–800/ton) against the ARBOK-VC module. Equipment model: purchase under a BOT structure. Payback 5–7 years.
Use cases
Feedstock: spent water-soluble metalworking fluid (cutting and grinding coolant emulsions), degreasing-line baths, parts-washer solutions, general-profile dilute chemical process solutions. Output: reclaimed technical-grade water returned to the working loop; a concentrated oil fraction ready for reuse; a dry solid fraction (metal fines to scrap, soap fraction reused). End uses: on-site reuse of water and oil; scrap-metal sale of separated fines; disposal volume reduced to a small dry residue instead of the full liquid stream.
Water-soluble metalworking fluid, diluted 1:10–1:20 for use in machining, ages in service: it loses stability, sours with bacterial growth, and saturates with metal fines and spindle oil. Current practice is to haul the spent emulsion away as liquid waste, or run a shop's own oil-skimming station — both leave a liquid tail that is paid for again every cycle, and neither returns the water, oil, or metal fraction to use. ARBOK-Emulsion processes the spent solution on site under deep vacuum at ambient temperature: water evaporates and returns to the working cycle at technical grade, the oil phase concentrates and separates as a clean stream ready for reuse, and metal fines and soaps settle out as a dry residue with no liquid tail. The same failure mode — and the same fix — applies to any diluted chemical bath in a plant: degreasing lines, parts washers, rinse tanks, not machine shops alone.
Feedstock: spent water-soluble metalworking fluid (cutting and grinding coolant emulsions), degreasing-line baths, parts-washer solutions, general-profile dilute chemical process solutions. Output: reclaimed technical-grade water returned to the working loop; a concentrated oil fraction ready for reuse; a dry solid fraction (metal fines to scrap, soap fraction reused). End uses: on-site reuse of water and oil; scrap-metal sale of separated fines; disposal volume reduced to a small dry residue instead of the full liquid stream.
The spent emulsion is fed into the ARBOK-VC unit under deep vacuum at ambient temperature — no external heat is supplied, there is no separate heating loop. Water reaches its boiling point under vacuum at ambient temperature and evaporates, condensing separately for return to the working cycle. The oil phase, immiscible with water and not affected by the phase change, concentrates and separates as its own stream. Metal fines and soap residues, which do not evaporate, settle out as a dry fraction, separated for distinct reuse routes.
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Process temperature | ambient — no heat supplied, no heating circuit, no setpoint |
| Separation driver | deep vacuum, not heat |
| Specific energy | under 1 kWh/m³ of stream, net |
| Typical feed dilution | 1:10–1:20 (concentrate:water) |
| Reagents / membranes | none |
| Outputs | technical-grade water, concentrated oil fraction, dry solids |
Separates water, oil, and solids from a spent emulsion in one ambient-temperature unit, with no reagents, membranes, or external heat. It eliminates repeat haul-away cost, fresh-concentrate repurchase, a separate oil-skimming station, and landfill or incineration fees on the sludge fraction. It removes a recurring liquid hazardous-waste stream and returns water and oil to the working cycle instead of destroying them — converting a recurring disposal cost line into a reduced, near-zero-liquid-discharge operation applicable to any plant running a diluted chemical bath.
Global metalworking fluid concentrate consumption is 1.63 bln liters/year (2026), the base behind an estimated 18–34 mln tons/year of diluted working emulsion at typical 1:10–1:20 dilution. In the US, machine shops alone number roughly 17,000; spent-emulsion haul-away runs $0.20–0.50/gallon, with a shop moving 6,000 gallons/month paying $29,000–36,000/year on haul-away alone. Every metal-machining shop, degreasing line, and parts-washing operation running a diluted chemical bath is a candidate.
ARBOK-VC (Vacuum Cracking) · ARBOK-Solvents · ARBOK-ACID · ARBOK-GALVANIX
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