Dow Chemical Company

Year Submitted: 2006

Process: Sodium chloride conversion

Industry: Chemical Manufacturing

Wastes Reduced: Sodium chloride, energy (BTUs)

Location: Freeport TX

No. of employees: 4500

Contact: Barry Averill

Phone: 979/238-1880

Description:

Salt (sodium chloride) mined in Texas at Dow's Freeport manufacturing facility is converted into various products that are used as feedstocks and products manufactured in Texas. The conversion of this process to it's various products is an energy-intensive process. A rather substantial waste stream derived from this operation had historically been neutralized and discarded as a waste. The amount of waste was on the order of 100 million pounds of salt per year. One difficulty was that the waste stream varied widely in concentration, making it difficult to utilize as a feedstock for other products.

P2 Application:

A Six Sigma team evaluated how to decrease the variability in this stream so that it could be utilized by the manufacture of such products. As a result of the evaluation, operating discipline was established and optimized, allowing this waste to be turned into a useable feedstock material.

Details of Reductions

• 90,000,000.0 - Pounds of   salt
  Comments: Decreased the amount of waste by nearly 90 million pounds of salt per year. Additionally, this waste reduction resulted in a decrease in the amount of energy needed to manufacture salt into its components by over 300 Billion BTUs annually.

Source: TCEQ