For more than a decade, the Navy's Best Manufacturing Practices (BMP) survey
process has been a primary avenue for industry and government to present
individual and distinctive success stories in management and manufacturing
disciplines. For those organizations seeking to advance their overall
manufacturing performance, the BMP program has provided validated and documented
best practices. These practices, verified on-site by BMP survey team members,
have served as a model for improvement in business and industry and as a tool to
promote teaming.
In 1995, industry and government representatives discussed the idea of
broadening the BMP program's scope to incorporate success stories submitted by
industry. The objective was to find an efficient, cost-effective way to share a
greater volume of information on the latest technology and business
developments. Since the BMP program had a proven approach for sharing success
stories, this seemed to be a logical expansion.
The practices in this report were submitted to the BMP Center of Excellence
by Occidental Chemical Corporation, Dallas, Texas as an example of some of the
latest developments in the environmental area. They are considered to be best
practices or success stories, however, they were not validated by an on-site BMP
survey team. Our goal is to help industry and government keep pace with the
rapid changes taking place in the business, manufacturing, and environmental
communities.
As one of the world's largest commodity chemical producers, Occidental
Chemical Corporation (OxyChem') operates the chemical business of the Occidental
Petroleum Corporation. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, OxyChem retains the
service of over 10,000 employees. The 44 manufacturing facilities located
worldwide are committed to global excellence in business, health, safety and the
environment. With sales of $5 billion in 1995, its operations are in the major
business groups of basic chemicals, polymers and plastics, speciality chemicals,
and petrochemicals.
Basic chemicals include facilities producing chlor-alkali products. OxyChem
is the largest merchant marketer of chlor-alkali products in the United States.
Chlorine is used in water treatment, semiconductors, medical devices, coatings,
adhesives and pharmaceuticals. Nearly 60% of its chlorine production is utilized
to produce vinyl chloride plastic and resins. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins
are widely used in residential and commercial pipe, window frames, house siding,
flooring, wall coverings, and a multitude of auto, consumer and home products.
The OxyChem polymers and plastics group produces PVC molding plastics that
are used in automotive, household and industrial products. The plants in this
group manufacture PVC copolymer dispersion resins and PVC speciality resins.
OxyChem is also a major producer of petrochemicals for use in products
ranging from packaging, bottles, and bags to textiles, construction materials
and detergents. Specialty business products, including phenolic resins, chrome
chemicals, silicates, PVC film, speciality resins bonding products,
fire-retardant additives, and plastic molding compounds are used in home, auto,
aerospace and industrial applications. The speciality chemical division also
produces a unique and environmentally friendly alternative solvent known as
OXSOL' that offers regulatory compliance while providing the performance of many
traditional solvents.
TABLE OF ACRONYMS:
The following acronyms were used in this report:
| BUD | Beneficial Use Determination | |
| OxyChem' | Occidental Chemical Corporation | |
| PCBTF | Parachlorobenzotrifluorice | |
Background: Occidental Chemical (Oxy Chem) manufacturers a paint
additive at its plant in Ashtabula, Ohio. Toluene is used as a reaction solvent
during the manufacturing cycle. The toluene is later separated from the additive
and eventually disposed as a hazardous waste.
Production personnel identified the toluene by-product as a potential
opportunity for waste reduction in 1991. In order to ensure end-product quality,
OxyChem partnered with its customer to reduce waste generation, toluene
emissions, and raw material usage and to share in the economic benefits to be
gained from the waste reduction effort.
An implementation team was formed consisting of the plant manager, production
manager, process engineer, a chemist, lab manager, and the production foreman.
The team wanted to recycle the toluene but found one major obstacle. Prior to
recycling attempts in 1988, recovered that toluene was not pure enough to be
reused in manufacturing. The real challenge focused on recovering high-quality
toluene that was within a specification that would be of value to future
production of the additive.
Description: In laying out its new plan of attack, the implementation
team identified key barriers to this project listing the customer concerns about
the integrity of any new process, market risk, raw material/processing problems
and general resistance to change as a major roadblock to a successful result. By
sharing information on the positive environmental impact and sharing any cost
savings with its customer, the customer became a true stakeholder in the
process. Adequate testing and certifications assured that the marketing and
processing problems were not a factor in the change.
Through brain storming and suggestions from plant personnel, the
implementation team hit on a different approach. Instead of stripping the
toluene, as was done in the past, plant personnel suggested the use of existing
idle equipment to distill the toluene from the additive. The distillation
process effectively removed impurities from the toluene so that it could be
recycled back to the manufacturing process. After the new process provided high
quality toluene, and a favorable economic analysis was assured, the customer
tested the paint additive.
Results: Successful lab tests and subsequent production trials
finalized the approval process and resulted in a drop from 478,100 pounds
off-site disposal waste toluene in 1992 (includes energy recovery) to 2,260
pounds in 1994. The project costs less than $50,000 to implement and saves the
company about $80,000/year in disposal costs ' a savings which OxyChem shares
with its customer. In addition, the success of the project assured that the
Ashtabula plant would maintain its status as a minor source under the Clean Air
Act.
Overall, the implementation team felt that management commitment, plant personnel involvement, a commitment to pollution prevention by OxyChem and its customer, and the assured technical feasibility of the project were keys to success of this pollution reduction effort.
Background: OxyChem formally established Environmental Principles to
guide management decision making and was among the first to embrace and
implement the chemical industry's Responsible Care Codes' of Management
Practice. OxyChem's chlor-alkali plant in Niagara Falls, New York was among
company leaders in implementing a corporate wide pollution prevention program
called OxyMin. All of OxyChem's domestic facilities committed to OxyMin's
corporate goals of achieving a 10% annual reduction in air emissions, reducing
water discharges by 20% from 1987 to 1993, and reducing hazardous and
non-hazardous waste generation by 5% per year.
In addition to OxyMin, OxyChem and its employees recommitted to the Pollution
Prevention Code' of Responsible Care, a voluntary industry-wide effort designed
to improve the performance of participating companies in the areas of health,
safety and environmental quality.
This commitment to environmental quality and efficient operation is
exemplified by pollution prevention and emission reduction projects completed at
the Niagara Falls, New York plant.
Located on a 100 + acre tract bordering the Niagara River about two miles
upriver from Niagara Falls, the OxyChem plant employs 700 workers in the
production of some two dozen products. The two largest volume materials,
chlorine and caustic soda, find a wide range of uses such as water purification,
plastics, detergents and pharmaceuticals. The facility also produces hydrogen
for the electronics industry, chlorinated toluene for computers, agricultural
products, potassium sulfite for photographic chemicals, sodium hypophosphite for
metal plating applications and Dechlorane Plus', a flame retardant used in
computers and TV components. A promising new addition to this product mix is
OXSOL', a non-ozone depleting solvent.
Just about everything OxyChem does or makes at its Niagara facility is on a
massive scale. In just one day 900 tons of chlorine are produced. The challenge
that OxyChem and its workers face every working day is to operate a facility
with operational and production capabilities of such large scale in an
environmentally acceptable and safe manner.
One significant product, parachlorobenzotrifluorice (PCBTF), is used in the
manufacture of herbicides for soybean and cotton farming, pharmaceuticals, and
as a major component of OXSOL'. Residual untreated raw materials from the
manufacture of PCBTF resulted in the following:
Description: After review of various options, OxyChem decided to
modify the PCBTF process to improve efficiency and product yield such that
unreacted raw materials were virtually eliminated. An additional reactor and
facilities to recover and store the by-product muriatic acid were constructed.
Results: This project resulted in the following:
The PCBTF process improvement project is but one example of the actions taken
at the Niagara plant to reduce impact on the environment and improve
manufacturing efficiency. Overall emissions have been cut by more than 80% since
1987. In 1993 alone, the Niagara plant achieved a 24% reduction in total
emissions to air, land, and water over the previous year.
The role that incineration plays in how the plant safely handles large
volumes of liquid waste material also is a continuing key in the sites's overall
waste management/reduction story. OxyChem has operated a liquid waste
incinerator at Niagara Falls since 1961. The incinerator has successfully
incinerated more than 3,000,000 drums of liquid chemical wastes in a safe and
environmentally sound manner.
Last year, OxyChem invested an additional $10 million in improvements,
including a 'state-of-the-art' scrubber system designed to meet and exceed
contemplated new regulatory limits.
Continuous improvement of incineration technology, coupled with the continuing success of the OxyMin pollution prevention program, are tangible evidence that Responsible Care' is not only a goal, but a way of everyday life at OxyChem's Niagara plant.
Background: Occidental Chemical's (OxyChem) Niagara Plant received a
Beneficial Use Determination (BUD) from the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) for gypsum (calcium sulfate) produced in its
chlor-alkali brine treatment operations. The BUD allows the plant to distribute
this material as product for agricultural purposes in New York state.
Description: The success story began in 1992 when a multi-disciplinary
team was formed using personnel from Operations, Technical, Environmental,
Purchasing, T&D, and Engineering with assistance from Corporate
Environmental, and Grand Island R&D. The team sought to convert the
15,000 tons/year of dry gypsum filter cake to a beneficial use. Avoiding the
need to landfill this waste would translate into a savings of over
$500,000/year. The team discovered early on that Niagara's gypsum was virtually
identical to commercial gypsum, thus leading to a potential agricultural use for
the waste material.
Results: Testing over two years was conducted with the assistance of
an agronomist (soil and crop specialist) on hay, ornamental shrubs, alfalfa,
evergreen trees, and blueberries. The gypsum binds clay particles in soils,
making it more porous and allowing water to permeate more freely. The material
also proved effective in controlling ammonia odors from animal manure.
As part of the approval process with the state, a field visit to the test sites was conducted with representatives of NYSDEC, Cornell Cooperative Extension, NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets, the agronomist, and the Niagara Gypsum Team. State officials viewed first-hand the obvious benefits of gypsum addition to the soils and in dairy barn manure handling systems. The visit, combined with test reports, resulted in the BUD being issued within a week after the tour.
Background: On December 8, 1995, OxyChem Durez Canada was awarded the
Certificate of Pollution Prevention Achievement by the Honorable Brenda Elliot,
Minister of Environmental and Energy. The award was presented in recognition of
efforts to reduce emissions and discharges to the environment. Now that the
facility has achieved this level in the Pollution Prevention Program, the
Ministry has granted the use of special Ministry sticker and logos to advertise
the facility's achievement.
Description: OxyChem Durez Canada produces resins and moulding
compounds for various automotive, electrical, and appliance markets. One of the
main raw materials required in the manufacturing process is phenol. For years
phenol presence in the sewer discharges was problematic, resulting in extensive
testing and permitting requirements. This changed in 1992 when the facility
closed looped the once through cooling system. The total cost for the
installation was approximately $71,000 (US), with cost recovery within the first
year. Consider the following benefits and associated cost savings from the
project:
Results:
Frederick Fedri |