Spray Coater Deals with Compliance
A Chicago, Illinois, spray coater needed to comply with federal EPA new source performance standards and EPA Title V air regulations.
A Chicago, Illinois, spray coater needed to comply with federal EPA new source performance standards and EPA Title V air regulations. The company established the Spray Coating Air Pollution Compliance Project to help it determine how to deal with regulations. The project was headed by Controlled Environmental Systems (CES), Waukesha, Wisconsin.
CES suggested a Retox twin-bed regenerative thermal oxidation (RTO) system. This system, from Adwest Technologies, has a compact modular design and low operating costs. The 10,000-scfm RTO system accommodates hydrocarbon VOCs for two tandem spray coating booths. The system operates energy free and is self-sufficient at solvent loadings of 420 ppmv and greater.
The spray booths use a variety of solvent blends in the spray coating formulations, including MEK, xylene, toluene, alcohols and heptane. The RTO has an AC variable frequency drive with pressure control capability that saves fan electrical energy when only one spray booth is on line.
The RTO system provides 99-pct hydrocarbon removal, which meets and exceeds current air quality standards and regulations for the spray coating industry.
Since installation, the system has operated continuously with no maintenance required. It provides rapid startup of less than an hour from a cold start, which allows for almost instant startup after a weekend shutdown.
The spray painting shop is quite efficient, installing RTO insulation to allow the oxidizer to store and retain the heat of combustion for a longer time.
The RTO system provided the lowest life cycle project costs when factoring in the capital, energy use and maintenance costs. This simplified the selection process for the team. The system features a PLC control system that is equipped with an integral Tel-Max telemetry package for on-line service diagnostics and record keeping of the unit's operation.
The system was installed in a converted loading dock area. This saved the paint shop floor space that is devoted to coating electronic components. This allowed the coater to achieve and exceed VOC compliance on a budget.
Related Content
-
NASF/AESF Foundation Research Project #122: Electrochemical Approaches to Treatment of PFAS in Plating Wastewater - 10th Quarterly Report
The NASF-AESF Foundation Research Board selected a project addressing the problem of PFAS and related chemicals in plating wastewater streams. This report covers the 10th quarter of work (April-June 2023). Here, we examine the effect of surface fluorination of Ti4O7 anodes on PFAS degradation performance in terms of energy performance as well as formation of chlorate and perchlorate when chloride is present in the solution. The full paper on this work can be accessed and printed at short.pfonline.com/NASF24Feb2.
-
NASF/AESF Foundation Research Project #122: Electrochemical Approaches to Treatment of PFAS in Plating Wastewater - 6th Quarterly Report
The NASF-AESF Foundation Research Board has selected a project on addressing the problem of PFAS and related chemicals in plating wastewater streams, studying PFAS destruction via electrooxidation and electrocoagulation. This sixth quarter report covers the continued assessment of eight perfluoroalkyl acids PFAAs most commonly found in wastewaters, by electro-oxidation with a Magnéli phase Ti4O7 anode across a range of anodic potentials in solutions, exploring the reaction mechanisms. To summarize, the PFAAs start to exhibit degradation behavior when the anodic potential reaches a level where water oxidation occurs, suggesting that the hydroxyl free radicals generated via water oxidation play a role in PFAA degradation.
-
Top 5 Areas to Consider Automation of Plating Operations
Automation for finishing operations can lead to improvements in process time, repeatability and consistency of quality. Yet, processes that make sense to explore for these operational efficiencies may not always be readily apparent.
