BASF Isle of Lewis

SPT’s 2012 project called for a methanol recovery and oil purification system for BASF in the Outer Hebrides. Formally Equateq, the site in Lewis is a world leader in lipid production. They recently went through a multi-million pound upgrade to their system to allow a far greater throughput of high value Omega-3 oils. SPT were asked to build a solvent recovery system where the feed material was only 2-3% oil with the make-up being methanol. The objective was to produce pure oil less than 100ppm methanol and recycle the methanol with a similarly high specification. Total throughput values are upwards of 13,000l/hr methanol evaporation.

The tight confines of the building made the installation critical. These images illustrate the space constraints.

SPT designed and built four separate skids to handle the various product and waste streams. The four systems use a combination of forced circulation, falling film and wiped film evaporation techniques.  The wiped film units are built from the original Stratavap design originally developed by SPT’s founding director Dr. Al Fleming