Making a Difference: Air Quality Success Stories
Implementing pollution prevention measures in a manufacturing process or a business activity reduces waste, conserves raw materials, conserves energy and other resources, and saves money. The following success stories demonstrate how businesses—and Indiana’s environment—win through the implementation of pollution prevention measures. Please also visit the Clean Air Indiana Business Toolkit to learn about available resources, including technical assistance, to help you identify and implement sustainable pollution prevention projects.
Success Stories
Church Brothers Collision Repair, in Indianapolis, employs 145 people at five locations and repairs about 9,000 cars each year. Church Brothers converted from a solvent basecoat to a waterborne basecoat at four locations, reducing volatile organic compound emissions by 28 percent, or 11,000 pounds. The volume of paint used per paint unit hour was reduced 33 percent.
Guardian Automotive Trim, Inc. in Evansville, manufactures exterior automotive trim, trim pieces and parts for Harley Davidson, and employs 550 people. The following significant reductions and savings have been gained through these initiatives:
- Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) reduced 18,000 pounds per year and particulate matter reduced by 200 pounds per year as a result of a reconstructed paint booth equipped with a Palin Unit which allows the company to reuse water for extended periods of time;
- Reduction in energy usage by 393,600 Kilowatt hours per year in 2006, through preventive maintenance of compressed air lines and employee awareness about energy being tracked;
- A reduction of 171,040 pounds of VOCS, 1,540 pounds of nitrogen oxides (NOx), and 9.2 pounds of sulfur dioxide through product reformulation and not idling equipment during non-production time.
Harrison Steel Castings Company in Attica employs 900 people in the production of carbon and low alloy, heavily cored steel castings. The facility has switched to a biodiesel-based binder, virtually eliminating VOCs released from the cores of their steel castings.
General Motors Powertrain Bedford Casting, Bedford, employs 550 people in the production of aluminum casting products, such as 4-speed and 6-speed transmission cases, pistons and engine blocks. To reduce energy consumption, the facility installed/relocated two dry hearth furnaces and eliminated four furnaces, reducing natural gas consumption by 29 percent and significantly reducing electricity consumption through the elimination of their crusher operation. The project reduced NOx emissions by 17,760 pounds per year, VOC emissions by 980 pounds per year, SOx emissions by 100 pounds per year, PM emissions by 1,340 pounds per year and other air emission by 14,920 pounds per year. The project reduced electricity usage by 175,000 kWh/year and natural gas usage by 2.63 million therms per year. At an initial cost of $4.52 million, the company has saved almost $5.2 million annually, with a one-time savings of over $1.2 million. The payback period was less than one year. The numerous environmental, health, safety and cost benefits also include: less fork truck traffic, reduction of processed on-grade materials used, increased quantity of aluminum chips melted, which would otherwise require additional energy to process into on-grade aluminum, reduced generation of dross that requires further processing and less manual skimming of impurities from open hearth furnaces.
American Commercial Lines’ Jeffboat Facility, located on the Ohio River in Jeffersonville, employs 1,450 people. It is America’s largest inland shipbuilder and vessel repair facility. In 2007, the facility implemented an improved paint system that draws paint from the barrels and mixes at the nozzle. After application, unused paint in the hose goes back to the barrels. They use only the exact amount of paint needed. Much less thinner and clean-up is needed. As a result, they’ve reduced paint by 15,000 gallons per year, VOCs by 23,800 pounds per year, and hazardous waste by 25,000 pounds per year.
OFS Brands, Inc., employs 2,000 people in the manufacture of high quality wood office and healthcare furniture. The company implemented a no-idling initiative for forklifts, reducing approximately 30 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. In addition, recycling units were installed at three facilities for recycling line and gun cleaning solvent. The company has reduced hazardous waste by 45,925 pounds per year, NOx emission by 1,379 pounds per year, SOx emissions by 70 pounds per year and PM emissions by 1468 pounds per year.
Kimball International, Inc., replaced two older 1-MBtU natural gas continuous fired finish ovens with three high-efficiency PLC controlled electric halogen ovens. The new halogen ovens operate only 25 percent of the time, allowing for large energy reductions. As a result, the company has reduced natural gas usage by 83,200 therms per year and carbon dioxide emissions by 301 tons per year. A payback period of 2.1 years is estimated for the initial investment of $240,000. Monaco Coach, received a 2008 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence for its project to eliminate the use of toxic and flammable solvents, like acetone, by switching to a water based product called Polychem Acrastrip.
Lilly Tippecanoe Laboratories has been a member of Indiana’s Partners for Pollution Prevention (P4P2) since 2005. The facility reduced its use of hazardous solvents by 700,000 pounds through a project to increase the efficiency of two closed-loop solvent recovery systems. It made changes in"post-campaign" cleaning for three products reduced raw material use and solvent disposal and implemented the reuse of waste solvent for its onsite chemical wastewater treatment plant, resulting in a reduction of hazardous waste by 73 million pounds per year. Through the optimization of blowers in the wastewater treatment plant, the optimization of the chiller operation and the optimization of laboratory hood operations, the facility reduced electricity usage by 6 million kilowatt hours per year. And, through the optimization of liquid incineration, the facility reduced its use of natural gas by 27,000 dekatherms per year and its use of coal by 260 tons per year.
