Printpack Inc.

Year Submitted: 2003

Process: Solvent

Industry: Printing

Wastes Reduced: Solvent

Substance: Hexane

Equipment: Distillation, Solvents

Location: Grand Prairie TX

No. of employees: 170

Contact: Don Malone

Phone: 972/641-4421 x41475

Description:

Solvents used in the cleanup process sometimes contained hexane and/or glycol ethers and were sometimes hazardous. We decided to reduce their use.

P2 Application:

We used a distillation column on-site to recover solvent.

Environmental Benefits:

Eliminated TRI reportable chemicals and reduced hazardous waste generation by about 50 tons.

Details of Reductions

Additional Information :

Total savings were over $30,000 This came from reduced solvent usage costs of $26,237(see below) and disposal costs reductions of about $4,000. Solvent Use reduction was estimated to take into account a 43% increase in production. Solvent use went from 161,000 pds. to 178,000 pds. This increase would have been much greater if we hadn't installed the coulumn. We used an an Activity Production Index of 1.43. Our solvent source reduction was therefore. (161,000 pounds X1.43) - 178,000 pounds = 53,000 pounds. At 50 cents per pound our savings were abpit $26,000 Disposal costs were based on a per gallon cost.

Source: TCEQ