1998 Pollution Prevention Internship Program
Final report (Sept 1998)
Environmental Compliance for VOC's; Hazardous Waste Regulation
Compliance
Spray Maine Inc.
Stephen C. Ulm
1998 Pollution Prevention Internship Program
Final report (Sept 1998)
Spray Maine Inc.
Environmental Compliance for VOC's; Hazardous Waste Regulation
Compliance
Intern: Stephen C. Ulm
P.O. Box 134
Center Harbor, NH 03226
1-603-253-7228
Facility: Spray Maine Inc.
Central St., PO Box 500
South Berwick, ME 03908
Contact: Christopher Donahue
President of Spray Maine Inc.
1-207-384-2273
1-207-384-4115 (fax)
Executive Summary: The fundamentals of pollution prevention have been a valuable
source of information when analyzing the Spray Maine facility. The Pollution Prevention
program has helped my company in reducing waste, recycling valuable materials, and
creating more efficient processes. I have gained valuable experience, and the Spray
Maine facility has heightened awareness of the Pollution Prevention program and what it
can do to help both industry and the environment.
Introduction: Spray Maine Inc. is a spray painting/silk screening company located in
southern Maine. The company deals with industrial spray painting of metal and some
plastic products. These products are sent from companies such as Chicago White Metal
and Kodak for various painting processes. There are two types of spray painting
processes at the Spray Maine facility. The first is the most common type of spray
painting application and consists of a spray painting gun connected to a mixture of paint,
catalyst and reducer to produce the needed outcome for the product. The second
application is a powder coating operation that involves charging the particles to be
sprayed on the products to produce static charge that attaches the powder to the product
and is then baked in oven to set the powder coating. These processes are very different
when looking at the VOC emissions, the hazardous waste produced, and the overall
outcome of the product. The company also utilizes a phosphate wash/rinse to prepare the
parts to be painted.
It was my job to look at the various parts of the Spray Maine facility and use my
knowledge of pollution prevention to help the company become more efficient in the way
the processes are run.
Objectives: The objectives for my internship were to look at four different aspects of the
spray Maine facility to see if there could be anything done to reduce current waste
generation, comply with industry standards, and save the company money. The analysis
of the VOC emissions was to determine if they were meeting the industry standards. The
installation of the solvent still was to reduce waste transported off-site and to recycle
some of the spent solvents produced by the company. The analysis of the phosphate rinse
was to determine if it was running at optimum conditions and to see if we could make the
process more efficient. The quality control of the outgoing products was undertaken as a
learning experience to understand what goes on in the quality control of a business, this
consisted of learning the various tools of the spray painting business and showing how
they can produce consistent products that satisfy the customer.
Approach: The first project which was undertaken at the Spray Maine facility was to
determine the VOC emissions from the company. The purpose of this was to make sure
that they were meeting there standards for their current classification as a small quantity
generator plus. In meeting their requirements they would be assured that their maximum
hazardous waste on site would be in compliance with state standards. Utilizing the total
paints used in the company on a weekly basis and the amount of VOC's per gallon (given
by the distributor) it was easy to determine the total VOC's of the company per unit time.
Cross-referencing the numbers that we calculated and the industry standards we
determined that we were currently meeting the requirements and the current increase in
powder coating (No VOC's) would surely keep the company under the current standards.
The analysis of the VOC's quickly brought us to our second project: The analysis
of the hazardous waste. In an attempt to lower the cost of off-site treatment and to
comply with current regulations; the installation of a solvent recovery still was decided
upon. This project proved itself to be the largest project of the internship. The solvent
still was used to recycle the spent solvents for re-use and lower the amount of hazardous
waste generated. The first step in the process was to file an application for a solvent still.
This application was time consuming and quite rigorous. Our company needed to fulfill
all of the requirements in the application which consisted of flow charts for the process,
complete process description, company deeds, a town meeting, various fees,
topographical maps, quantitative process description, on-site inspection, pre-application
meeting, and various other political requirements. The potential savings for the
installation of a solvent still can be seen as Appendix-1.
The phosphate wash/rinse which is used to pre-treat the metal for painting had
various elements that needed to be reviewed. We began by making sure that the process
was running under optimum conditions( Conditions can be seen as Appendix-2,3). This
was accomplished by utilizing two different testing techniques. The first was a litmus
paper test, and the second was a titration to determine the concentration of the phosphate
rinse. Both tests showed that the processes were at the desired conditions and we
continued on to the efficiency of the unit. We looked at cleaning the heating coils and
fixing a small leak in the system both of which would increase the processes efficiency.
We also determined that the water which was constantly flowing through the system was
fairly clean and that it could be recycled to the phosphate wash to save the costs of filling
up the wash which was re-filled about 6 times a year. The temperature of all the
processes seemed to be at steady state and were at acceptable limits so that concluded the
phosphate wash/rinse review.
The last project I worked on was the quality control aspect of the spray painting
business. Since there are a lot of different ways in which the process can vary it is
important to have a consistent product which can be replicated over and over again.
Other problems associated with the business are paint matching, gloss of the finished
product, thickness of the paint, and light source. To determine the correct color of the
paint the facility uses a colorimeter. The system is equipped with a sensor that is placed
on the color and a series of numbers results. The numbers determine the hue, value, and
chroma of the color in question. Different colors can be compared to one another and can
be matched identically using a chart, which is included in the system. A gloss meter
determines the gloss of the product. This unit is placed on top of the product and gives
an instant result which states the percent gloss of the paint. The third machine is a hand
held unit that determines the thickness of the coating of paint. The reading tells the
operator how many millimeters of paint are on top of the product. This is important in
determining what kind of texture the finish will have after it is baked in the oven. The
last machine is called a MacBeth light source, and it consists of a large unit which is
capable of imitating various light sources such as: daytime, fluorescent, Ultra-violet.
The finished products can be looked at under the various light sources to make sure that
the color they would like looks good under the light source which it will be used under.
Chemical Usage/Equipment: The majority of the chemical used in the Spray Maine
facility were paint related. The company utilized paint, lacquer thinner, paint catalyst,
and as a result the hazardous waste generated from this usage was a mixture of Toluene,
Xylene, and Acetone. Other chemicals dealt with commonly were SEALTEX 1668 DS
which was used as the phosphate wash, and TEXO LP 1749 which was the phosphate
sealer. The equipment used in these processes was more in-depth and begins with the
phosphate wash, a large washing bin was used to wash the incoming parts and two large
bins which contained water and sealer, respectively, were used for complete pretreatment of the materials. The spray painting process contained spray guns, and powder
coating machines. To recycle the spent paints a distillation unit (Lil Still Jr) was used,
and 55-gallon drums stored the products. Large baking ovens were used to set the paint
and drying racks were used for settling.
Waste generated: The waste generated at the facility is a result of the spent solvents
from the painting processes. The company has the hazardous waste (stored in 55-gallon
drums) transported off-site by a company specializing in hazardous waste transportation.
VOC emissions from the company meet the standards for air quality control.
Pollution Prevention benefits: The pollution prevention benefits for the VOC emissions
were minimal except for the fact that a push for use of the powder coating has been
established and various benefits and rewards have been established for companies who
are switching to the powder coating. The pollution prevention benefits for the solvent
still are a 66 percent reduction in hazardous waste shipped off-site per year, and a
reduction in raw materials since the old materials are being recycled to take there place.
The benefits of the phosphate system are reduced costs in water being supplied to the
process due to the recycle from the rinse, a more efficient heating system, and a simple
testing mechanism to maintain optimum conditions. The quality control aspects had its
own pollution prevention benefits including less parts being disposed of due to increased
attention to deliver consistent products and reduced paint coating if the thickness gauge
showed over coating of the parts. I also worked on other small tasks around the office
which resulted in saved paper and other office supplies (Seen as Appendix-4).
Recommendations: The Spray Maine facility has undergone many environmental
inspections in the last year and are currently in compliance with state and federal
standards. I might recommend an automated line to make the painting/baking process
more efficient, but a complete economic analysis of that would need to be undertaken.
Continued push to change companies over to powder coating, and recycling the spent
paints to maximize cost saving benefits of recycling their solvents.
References: Christopher Donahue
Spray Maine Inc.
1-207-384-2273
Vincent Perelli
DES Pollution Prevention
1-603-272-2902
Caitlin Callaghan
NH P2
1-603-272-6460
Ed Vigneault
Maine DES
1-207-287-2651