| Reduction in the use of solvents in a paint and lacquer production company | Norway | 1993 | Full scale |
MANUFACTURE OF CHEMICALS AND CHEMICAL PRODUCTS # 33
Background
Scandia Kjemiske A/S was invited by their parent company to take part in a cleaner production project. This project was initiated by the State Pollution Authority and Norwegian Society for Chartered Engineers. At the same time the State Pollution Authority was planning to license the releases to solvents. The company knew it had high costs in connection with its waste management, and wanted to reduce these to the lowest possible level. The case study was carried out in 1993.
Cleaner Production Principle
Housekeeping; Material substitution; Recovery, Reuse and Recycle
Cleaner Production Application
The main health and environmental problem in the company is release of solvents from production. The company has started a process with the aim to introduce water-based products. This process has so far reduced the release of solvents from 10 kg/hour to 4 kg/hour.
Good housekeeping practices have been promoted by information to the workers. Both the release of solvents and the generation of waste is influenced by daily practices.
Reuse of incoming packages is another measure that has been implemented, both to reduce costs and to reduce the amount of waste.
Covering of some containers has prevented the evaporation of solvents into air.
Case Study Summary
Scandia Kjemiske produces 2,2 mill. liters of pigmented and unpigmented lacquer each year. The main markets are industry, car repair shops, and "do it yourself" hobbyists.
During the production process, solvents are released into the air. This is the main environmental problem. Many of the measures taken during the project have the common goal of reducing the release of solvents. Below, different measures are listed.
| Cleaning of mills. The cleaning of mills requires large amounts of thinner. In some applications, thinner can be reused. This reduces the amount of waste generated, and does not require investments. |
| Closing off the immediate area around the axles for dissolvers and stirring equipment. This reduces the releases to air. |
| The drying of boxes now takes place over open barrels. Experiments with covers will be initiated to see if it might be possible to let the runoff take place in a closed environment. |
| Reduction of the use of open strainers (closed filling system). |
| Raw materials have been evaluated and classified. Raw materials in category 1 will be phased-out in 1993, while category two will be phased-out during 1995. |
| Standardization of primary and secondary packaging components to reduce the number of different items, is considered. |
| Draining of 1/9 liter boxes directly from containers, has been started. This eliminates the temporary storage on 20 liter buckets. |
| Earlier routines for weighing thinner have been changed, something that has reduced the amount of waste. |
Metal scrap is generated from packaging, raw materials and finished products
| To reduce the amount of non-returnable pallets, discussions have started with suppliers. The use of Euro-pallets will make it possible with internal/external re-use. |
| Cleaning and selling of 120 liter plastic containers has started |
Material/Energy Balances and Substitutions
| Waste stream | In the period of measure | Yearly | Yearly reduction |
| Paper/cardboard (impure) | 643 kg | 7780 kg | N/A |
| Paper/cardboard (pure) | 853 kg re-use now 100% | 10322 kg | former 60% |
| Barrels 2001 | 2484 kg eliminated, rest reuse |
30069 kg | 8000 kg |
| Metal containers | 420 kg | 5084 kg | unchanged |
| Metal boxes | 487 kg eliminated |
5893 kg | 400 kg |
| Plastic containers | 24 kg | 291 kg | 250 kg reuse |
| Plastic (pure) | 415 kg | 5022 kg | unchanged |
| Plastic (impure) | 66 kg | 793 kg | unchanged |
| Pallets | 3014 kg eliminated the rest reused internally |
36485 kg | 1100 kg |
| Water for washing | 787 kg | 9527 kg | unchanged |
| Thinner for washing | 3455 kg eliminated so far, but potential for a reduction of 28500 kg | 60000 kg | none |
| Rags | 436 kg | 5279 kg | unchanged |
| Other | 552 kg | 6680 kg | unchanged |
| Total | 13636 kg eliminated or re-used internally/ externally | 183225 kg | 40000 kg |
Environmental and Economic Benefits
There is a yearly net savings 165.000 NKR in operational and maintenance costs.
Constraints
None reported.
Contacts
Review Status
This case study was translated from Norwegian and submitted to UNEP IE on behalf of the Norwegian State Pollution Control Authority by Stiftelsen Ostfoldforskning in February 1994. It was reviewed and edited by UNEP IE in July 1995.
Subsequently the case study has undergone a technical review by Dr Prasad Modak at Environmental Management Centre, Mumbai, India, in September 1998.