automobile repair

INTERNATIONAL CLEANER PRODUCTION INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE

CASE STUDY #13 1. Headline: Cleaner Production in a city-based project 2. Background: The Environmental Protection Agency of the City of Graz in Austria and the chemical Engineering Institute of Graz University of Technology combined together to put forward a clean technology initiative called ECOPROFIT, Ecological Project For Integrated Environmental Technology in April 1991. Eleven companies and their suppliers co-operated to carry out a total of 26 projects. Three projects relate to a printing company and three projects relate to an automobile repair company. Substantial improvements in air emissions and wastes have been achieved. Emissions of halogenated hydrocarbons and some toxic wastes could be reduced by 100%. The emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC's) have been reduced in some instances by 70-90% and several substances are now recycled. There have also been substantial cost savings. Salis and Braunstein was formed in 1938 with two car mechanics and an apprentice. In those days there were only 33,000 cars in all Austria. Nowadays, there are three million cars, and Salis and Braunstein employ 235 people. The company has a turnover of US$80million. 3. Cleaner Production Principle: Material substitution, good housekeeping. 4. Description of Cleaner Production Application: Car Repair Workshop Examples: Salis and Braustein's three projects involved (a) working with two-component paints, (b) repair of automobile air-conditioning units and (c) mixing systems for topcoat paints. (a) Working with two-component paints: Single component paints do not have sufficient chemical and physical strength to be used on cars and therefore two-component systems are used. Two-component paints have a hardener which reacts chemically when mixed. This mixed paint has to be used within hours or it dries up and has to be disposed of as an expensive hazardous waste. The solution was to mix the two components in a specially designed metering hopper. A more exact dosage of paint was possible guaranteeing a good surface and reducing the amount of sanding and the production of dust. In the spray gun itself the compressed air is heated up to 85 C, causing the paint to heat up to 65 C. This ensures that even paints with solids content of up to 70% can be mixed without any problems. A pulsating air flow also aids the subsequent cleaning of device, reducing the use of cleaning fluids by a factor of four. (b) Repair of automobile air-conditioning units: Up to 5% of new cars in Austria have an air-conditioning system containing 1-1.5 kg of chlorofluorocarbons, CFC's, (usually CFC- 12). Major repairs of the units entailing a refill of CFC generally occur three times during the ten year life of the vehicle. It is estimated that 27 tons of CFC per year are released from the repair of these units and 2.5 tons are released with the scrapping of vehicles. This cleaner production exercise suggests that only repair agents who have facilities for extraction of the CFC should be allowed to carry out such repairs to air- conditioning units. Garages that carry out less than 50 air-conditioning repairs a year should use CFC extraction units. These suck out the refrigerant which can be recycled (or destroyed) by the manufacturer. If more than 50 repairs per year are carried out, combined extraction and recycling units should be used. Currently only 12% of Austrian garages have facilities for extracting or recycling CFC. Additionally it is suggested that CFC-12 (CCI2F2) is replaced by HFC-134a (C2H2F4) which has an eleven times less affect on the ozone layer. Unfortunately units must be designed for HFC-134a and existing units cannot simply be recharged with the new refrigerant The total cost of recycling equipment for CFC-12 is US$3,300 whilst for HFC-134a it is US$5,700. At the moment HFC-134a costs more than CFC-12, but this factor is likely to decrease with its increasing use and the effect of the Montreal Protocol ban on CFC-12 production. This study was based on 1991 figures and work from the air-conditioning system supplier Ginner of Vienna, Austria and the refrigerant supplier Bruckner & Novak KG of Wr. Neudorf, Austria. Note: Some British made Rolls-Royce, Jaguar and Rover cars are now fitted with Klea 134a based air-conditioning units. (c) Mixing system for Finalcoat Paints: A repair shop will require a very large number of colors for the vehicles likely to come in for repairs. The paints have to be prepared using fixed quantities of paint, taken from 0.5, 1, 2 and 3 liter cans. To spray a fender or mudguard takes only 0.3 liters of paint, but the minimum that can be prepared is 0.5 liter. Similarly to spray a hood or bonnet takes 0.7 liter of paint, but 1 liter has to be mixed. Not only is this wasteful of paint, but there is always the disposal problem. It suggested that computerized paint mixing systems could easily be developed that would dispense 40,000 shades of color using only a hundred basic colors, in quantities of 0.1 to 6 liters. It is estimated that systems could be produced for US$4,750-US$9,520 and that the payback period could be as short as 1 year, depending on the throughput of the paint shop. These estimates are based on information supplied by Austro Lesonal GmbH and Elixhausen of Austria. 5. Economics: Cost saving US$/year Based on 10 car respray jobs per day 50,000 Capital cost US$13,000 Payback 3 months Material and emission reduction: hardener 30% sanding 15% solvents 1,400 kg dried-up paints/ hazardous waste 350 kg The equipment supplier was MGV Moest, Landsberg, Germany. 6. Advantages: The overall results from these studies showed that the following reductions could be achieved. Car repair workshops: halogenated materials 100% oil-containing materials 100% solvents >50% waste 30% 7. Constraints: N/A 8. Contacts: This program of cleaner production projects was instigated by: Mr Karl Niederl ECOPROFIT Department of Environmental Protection City of Graz A-8010 Graz, Griesgasse 11 Austria Tel: +43 316 872 4300 Fax: +43 316 872 4309 9. Keywords:Austria, automobile, automobile repair, material substitution, process modification, good housekeeping, CFC, painting, air-conditioning, ecoprofit 10. Reviewer comments: This case study was originally published in the UNEP IE document "Cleaner Production Worldwide". In the process of preparing the document the case study underwent a technical review.