Pollution Equipment News Case Studies, August 2004

EMISSIONS CONTROL AT TEXTILE PLANT

Background
A global supplier of textiles for automotive interiors has a plant in the U.S. that produces fabric for major auto companies.  The manufacturing process includes coating and processing large sheets of fabric in long ovens. 

The plant had emissions of very fine particulates and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the exhaust from the ovens.  The size distribution of emitted particulate in the emissions extended down to sub-micron range.

Objective
Emission controls were required for compliance with EPA regulations.  The plant’s objective was to identify a proven, reliable, and lowest-cost solution to eliminate the fine particulate and VOC emissions.

Alternatives
The plant’s alternatives included the following control technologies:

• Cartridge collector or baghouse;
• Venturi scrubber;
• Thermal oxidizer;
• APC Technologies’ ultra-high efficiency filter (UHF™) system.

The last option, the UHF™ system, is an indexing-bed filter system that uses proprietary technology to achieve very high control efficiency in a compact design with low energy requirements.

Selection
The UHF™ system, which was chosen by the plant, offered a control efficiency of 99.9%, a very low pressure drop (i.e., low energy costs), simplicity of operation and extremely low maintenance costs, and no downtime required for filter replacement as it could be done while the process is running.

The cartridge collector/baghouse options were not selected as both options required a higher capital cost, a higher pressure drop for comparable control efficiency to the UHF™ system, and downtime for changing out cartridges or bags, unless a redundant unit is purchased.

The venturi scrubber was not selected due to lower control efficiency, as the unit only captures the water-soluble portion of VOCs and the larger particulates; results in a much higher pressure drop (with correspondingly higher energy costs); a wastewater disposal cost issue; and overall much higher operating and maintenance cost.

The thermal oxidation system was eliminated because it was the most capital intensive and also had very high operating and maintenance cost.
           
In terms of capital cost, the UHF™ system was the lowest cost.  With the lowest operating and maintenance costs, the UHF™ had the lowest total life cycle cost of all technologies considered by a substantial margin.

Result
The UHF™ system meets and exceeds the criteria for performance efficiency and cost-effective solution for the oven emissions, including exceeding all EPA requirements.

Back to Case Studies Main Page