Thermal Oxidizer
Our client has an RTO on its aluminum window frame painting line, and we supplied a total hydrocarbon analyzer to meet compliance. We get a huge spike in the readings when the RTO chambers cycle every four minutes. We can go from 3 to 6 ppm for four min, then spike to 400 to 1,000 ppm for a few seconds. I don’t believe RTOs should work that way and that switching should have little or no effect on efficiency. I think the client’s unburned paint is contaminating our gas analyzer.
Q. Our client has an RTO on its aluminum window frame painting line, and we supplied a total hydrocarbon analyzer to meet compliance. We get a huge spike in the readings when the RTO chambers cycle every four minutes. We can go from 3 to 6 ppm for four min, then spike to 400 to 1,000 ppm for a few seconds. I don’t believe RTOs should work that way and that switching should have little or no effect on efficiency. I think the client’s unburned paint is contaminating our gas analyzer. T.Y.
A. I believe you are right in your assessment of the problem. I’m guessing from your description that by “RTO” you mean regenerative thermal oxidizer and not recuperative thermal oxidizer. Both types of incinerators are used to burn volatile organic compounds in spray booth exhaust air, but this particular type uses heated ceramic discs.
I suspect that the operating temperature of the heated ceramic discs is not high enough, thus causing spikes in your readings. This may be caused by the hot air entering the ceramic disc bed not being up to the specified temperature, which should be at least 1,500ºF.
Related Content
-
NASF/AESF Foundation Research Project #122: Electrochemical Approaches to Treatment of PFAS in Plating Wastewater - 12th Quarterly Report
This NASF-AESF Foundation research project report covers the 12th quarter of project work (October – December 2023) at the University of Georgia. In our previous report, we described our work on performance and effect of surface fluorinated Ti4O7 anodes on PFAS degradation in reactive electrochemical membrane (REM) mode. This quarter, our experiments involved utilizing porous Ti4O7 plates serving both as anodes and membranes. Tests compared pristine and F-18.6 Ti4O7 anodes at current densities of 10 mA/cm2 and 40 mA/cm2. This 12th quarterly report discusses the mechanisms of the effects on EO performance by anode surface fluorination.
-
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.
-
NASF/AESF Foundation Research Project #121: Development of a Sustainability Metrics System and a Technical Solution Method for Sustainable Metal Finishing - 15th Quarterly Report
This NASF-AESF Foundation research project report covers the twelfth quarter of project work (October-December 2023) at Wayne State University in Detroit. In this period, our main effort focused on the development of a set of Digital Twins (DTs) using the Physics-Informed Neural Network (PINN) technology with application on parts rinsing simulation.
