• Parking lots
• Gas stations
• Car washes
• Car repair shops
• Industrial companies
• Other

Oil traps are used for the separation of and/or capture of petroleum products from surface effluents (rain) and industrial effluents. These devices operate on a gravitational principle, separating heavier water from the lighter oil products. An oil trap must be installed at every service station, car wash, car park or other facility where oil products may leak. It is important that the level of contaminants in the water after treatment would not exceed 5 mg/l. All oil traps must be CE marked. 

Principle of operation

The concentration of petroleum products in the incoming water can reach 2300 mg/l, before the sorption filter 50 mg/l. When passing through a precipitator, a coalescence filter and a sorption filter with a sorbent filler or coalescence and sorption filter, contaminated wastewater is treated up to 1 mg/l of petroleum products. And the use of a precipitator and a coalescence filter cleans the wastewater up to 5 mg/l of petroleum products. First, the water stream is calmed and sand and other heavy particles are deposited. Second, coalescence filter traps the sludge and separates the petroleum products from the water. Third, the contaminated water is purified by filtration through a sorbent filter with a sorbent.

Types of oil traps:

• Oil trap with sand trap
• Oil trap without sand trap
• Free-standing oil traps
• Underground oil traps
• Vertical and horizontal oil traps

The disadvantage of an oil trap without a sand trap is that it will fill up faster, as it will be filled not only by oil products, but also by sand and soil (this needs to be taken into account in particular when building a trap that will serve larger areas under the open sky). As a result, the trap will need to be pumped more often, and each pumping costs money.