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NPEP Success Story
Dow Reduces Volatile Organic Compound Emissions by 60 Tons through August 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 Dow Chemical Company Ethylcellulose Production facility set a goal to reduce total emissions from approximately 100 tons VOC to <10 tons VOCs which consist of Diethyl Ether, Toluene, Ethyl Chloride, Ethanol and Ethylene.
NPEP Project Implementation
Several scrubbers and vent compressors that use solvent as a scrubbing media/seal fluid were replaced with a more reliable pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit along with a regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) to control high volume, low concentration vents.
Hurdles Faced
The pressure swing adsorption technology was new to this facility and the use of a regenerative thermal oxidizer is new to the company and site. This is an existing manufacturing unit. Seamlessly integrating this new technology into the facility without disrupting the existing manufacturing process was a significant challenge.
Waste Minimization Results
The regenerative thermal oxidizer has resulted in approximately 60 tons reduction in the emissions of volatile organic compounds year to date (through August 2008).