E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc.

Year Submitted: 2003

Process: Nitrile production

Industry: Chemical Manufacturing

Wastes Reduced: Process Chemicals

Location: Orange, Orange County TX

No. of employees: 2000

Description:

The Wet Organic Recovery Column (WORC) in the Refining Building of Nitrile (ADN process) was restarted in 1990, following a two year downtime. The column is used to recycle organics that are collected in the Waste Treatment area, rather than burning them for fuel value. Equipment modifications and technical support during startup was provided by K. W. Eisel, D. W. Geyen and K. W. Booth - ADN Technical.

P2 Application:

In order to assure smooth safe operation of the WORC, the Waste Treatment area has focused on the proper operation of their decanter to minimize the amount of free water sent to the WORC feed tank. In addition, Waste Treatment has blanked the bypass around their filters to prohibit the transfer of solids and "mud" to the WORC feed tank. In the Nitrile area, enclosed decant facilities have been installed to allow decanting any water that has accumulated in the feed tank without exposing personnel to HCN fumes.

Environmental Benefits:

During the first two months of operation, 290 MLB of waste liquid, burned for fuel value was eliminated. This value was higher than expected on an annualized basis due to stored feedstocks for the column. It is expected that more than l.0 MMLB of waste will be recovered per year by the WORC.

Details of Reductions

Additional Information :

During the first two months of operation, $68M of organics were recovered for use. This included recovered raw materials, recovered intermediate products and recovered product. On an annualized basis, it is expected that $250M of organics will be recovered. The payback period for the improvements was approximately 1 1/2 months.

Source: TCEQ