Texas Eastman

Year Submitted: 2003

Process: Cooling Towers

Industry: Chemical Manufacturing

Wastes Reduced: Wastewater

Equipment: Drift Reduction

Location: Longview, Harrison County TX

No. of employees: 2700

Contact: Glenn Phillips

Phone: (903) 237-5352

Description:

The ethylene glycol department has two cooling towers that cool and recirculate process water streams that contain about 8% ethylene glycol. As the air is pulled through the falling water a small percentage of water and ethylene glycol is released to the atmosphere. Besides being a loss of product, the emissions of ethylene glycol has to be reported.

P2 Application:

The department formed a team to look at ways of reducing emissions. They found that new technology existed to reduce drift from cooling towers. The new design allows the drift to impinge on baffles and the droplets that are formed then drop back into the tower instead of going out over the tower. The total cost of the project was $55,000.

Environmental Benefits:

Ethylene glycol emissions were reduced by 72,000 pound per year with the new drift eliminators.

Details of Reductions

Additional Information :

Sales of recovered ethylene glycol is about $18,000 a year.

Source: TCEQ