Turbomeca USA

Year Submitted: 2011

Process: Filtration

Industry: Aircraft Manufacturing

Wastes Reduced: Solvent

Location: Grand Prairie TX

No. of employees: 400

Contact: Terry Hedrick

Phone: 972-606-7600

Description:

Turbomeca had a corporate mandate to reduce waste and improve productivity by eliminating the need to replace the solution every week. The practice of replacing the Ardrox 6440 chemical degreasing baths in 7 different tanks contributed to the following: 696 labor hours for facilities staff to change out solvent in all affected tanks, evaporator waste disposal (hazardous) 5 times per year, 620 hours per year of production downtime, and 22,000 gallons/year of water used.

P2 Application:

We constructed a mobile filtering cart to recycle the 6440 cleaning bath. The equipment removes particles and oily contaminants left after degreasing a part. The baths are filtered weekly. We also implemented a monitoring/testing procedure conducted bi-weekly to ensure the reused solution is at a proper concentration to meet cleanliness specification. Consumption of 6440 decreased from 110 gal/month to 27.5 gal/month. * Equipment: 12 gal/min Pneumatic Diaphragm Pump, Heat Exchanger with an air flow booster cooler, large particle strainer, polycarbonite, filtration housing (50 micron filter) with pressure differential gauges, coalescing filter (oil separator) and a foot pedal control * Capability: The filtration equipment is able to recycle a tank of degreasing solution through a 50 micron filter in 30 minutes * Improvement: Through a combination of the weekly filtration process and a bi-weekly testing process, usually only a small amount of 6440 is added to the tank to enable it to meet is required specification

• Total Cost Savings: $40,000.00
• Comments: Savings on disposal and raw materials is $20,200/year Savings on labor hours is about $19,840.00/year.

Details of Reductions

• 1,050.0 - Gallon of   Ardrox 6440 (degreaser)
  

Additional Information :

Additional benefits include 19,000 gal/year less water used and overall approximately 1316 labor hours saved.

Source: TCEQ