Industry: Air Transportation Product Manufacturing | Location: Niagara Falls, NY

The Challenge

An air transportation industry product manufacturer in Niagara Falls, NY was looking for a sustainable, long-term strategy to reduce overall manufacturing costs without negatively impacting production. A significant portion of their operating expense was tied to the recurring purchase of virgin heat transfer fluid — specifically, partially hydrogenated terphenyls used as the primary thermal oil in their manufacturing process. Each cycle of use degraded the fluid, and the traditional approach of discarding spent HTF and purchasing new product was becoming increasingly cost-prohibitive at production scale.

The manufacturer needed a heat transfer fluid regeneration partner who could consistently restore their spent partially hydrogenated terphenyls to reusable condition, deliver reliable volumetric yields of 80% or greater, and maintain a steady processing cadence of three-quarters to a full truckload per month — all without disrupting ongoing production schedules or compromising the quality of the returned thermal oil.

Business Requirements

• Regenerate spent partially hydrogenated terphenyls — the facility’s primary heat transfer fluid — back to usable specification through specialty distillation.
• Achieve a target volumetric yield of 80% or greater on all processed heat transfer fluid to ensure the program delivered meaningful material recovery.
• Maintain a consistent processing schedule of three-quarters to a full truckload of spent HTF per month to keep pace with the facility’s thermal oil consumption cycle.
• Reduce overall heat transfer fluid costs without negatively impacting production quality, uptime, or manufacturing throughput.

Project Outcomes

Since 2010, CHEM Group has served as the manufacturer’s dedicated heat transfer fluid regeneration partner, building a long-running program that has now exceeded 105 individual processing projects. Each cycle follows the same proven workflow: spent partially hydrogenated terphenyl HTF is collected from the facility, transported to CHEM Group’s specialty distillation operations, regenerated to specification, and returned as high-quality refurbished heat transfer fluid ready for immediate reuse in the customer’s thermal oil system.

• Completed over 105 heat transfer fluid regeneration projects to date, establishing a consistent and reliable long-term HTF refurbishment partnership that has run continuously since 2010.
• Achieved actual volumetric yields of 75–85% on processed heat transfer fluid, with over 96% of all material returned to the customer as usable, specification-grade thermal oil.
• Delivered 65–70% monthly cost savings by refurbishing spent heat transfer fluid versus purchasing virgin replacement HTF — significantly reducing the manufacturer’s raw material expenditure year over year.
• Maintained a steady throughput of 10–11 truckloads of heat transfer fluid processed annually, matching the facility’s production cadence with zero disruption to manufacturing operations.

Key Takeaway