Power plant closures have headlined the media for several years now. A-Line E.D.S. has been busy assisting many customers across the country with the proper removal and recycling of their large transformers and other oil-filled electrical equipment from these sites, including their PCB contaminated equipment. We hope to highlight some of these projects in our coming blogs and discuss some of the common mistakes we see made, along with the proper methods for handling these high valued assets.
While getting the most money for these assets is critical, safety, environmental compliance and efficiency can not be ignored.
Showcased below is a project we completed for a large government owned utility in the United States. A-Line removed over 3 million pounds of transformer material from this site in less than 3 weeks.
After removing the fire suppression systems and surrounding equipment A-Line meticulously dismantled these large shell type transformers starting with the careful removal of the bushings and radiators.
One critical mistake made by some is the assumption that there are no PCB components if the main tank oil has been tested non-pcb. Many components, primarily bushings, often contain high levels of PCBs and need to be removed, packaged, transported, tested and processed according to EPA guidelines. Both A-Line facilities located in Tonkawa, OK and Waterloo, IA are permitted to handle all levels of PCBs in oil.
Once the auxiliary components were removed, the transformer tank was lifted off, exposing the core for further dismantling.
There was a lot of core steel removed from these beasts. Thanks to A-Line’s patented harvesting process we were able to remove this mechanically, resulting in a safer and more efficient operation. 
Once all of the core steel was removed and shipped the crews removed and shipped the transformer windings to our facility for further processing. These large generator step-up transformers and their associated auxiliary transformers were removed safely and quickly.
This utility was able to capture the value from this transformer recycling project by having them purchased and removed prior to the plant demolition. Not only did this provide them with a greater recovery value but gave them the assurance that they were handled in an environmentally compliant manner.
