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NPEP Success Story
The Dow Chemical Company Reduces Methanol Emissions by 180,000 pounds in 2Q 2008
Michigan Operations is the birthplace of The Dow Chemical Company and one of its major manufacturing facilities. Founded in 1897, Dow now has more than 150 Dow manufacturing sites in 37 countries around the world. The Midland, Michigan site has more than 30 production plants, centralized research and development facilities, and 550 buildings on 1,900 acres. Michigan Operations manufactures plastics, agricultural products and specialty chemicals to meet the needs of many of Dow's global customers in the automotive, agricultural, paper, pharmaceutical and bioscience industries. Michigan Operations has achieved steady progress in the reduction of chemical emissions since 1994, with a total decrease of more than 40 percent. It is the first Dow site to enroll in EPA's National Partnership for Environmental Priorities program, and is proud of the achievements made through this program.
Dow’s
NPEP Goal
The goal was to increase the amount of methanol recycled in Dow’s Ion Exchange manufacturing process from 0 lbs per year in 2005 to 695,000 lbs per year beginning in May 2008.
NPEP Project Implementation
The project installed new equipment to neutralize and steam strip an existing waste water stream. The overheads from the stripper are recovered to an existing organic recovery system for re-processing and re-use of methanol in the Ion Exchange manufacturing process. Some type of recovery or treatment system was necessary in order to comply with the Miscellaneous Organic Chemical NESHAP (MON MACT, or MON), however the project was designed to recover 35-50% more methanol than required for the MON.
Hurdles Faced
The recovery technology used on this specific stream was new to this facility and required significant up-front research and development with regards to chemistry and equipment selection. The recovery operation generated a waste stream that was high in solids and significant challenges occurred during start up due to equipment plugging and process control.
Waste Minimization Results
The facility was able to recover approximately 180,000 pounds of Methanol in the second quarter of 2008. Recovery volumes will always be dependent on production volume and product mix, but the facility anticipates that the projected goal will be met or exceeded.