INTERNATIONAL CLEANER PRODUCTION INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE

CASE STUDY # 209

1.   Headline:  Process Modification, Inventory Control, and
     Process Efficiency at Paint Manufacturing Plant.

2.   Background:  See below.

3.   Cleaner Production Application:  Process modification,
     good housekeeping, recycling, material substitution

4.   Description of Cleaner Production Application:

     Process and Waste Information: The facility makes a
     variety of architectural coatings, including paint
     products, aerosol spray paints, and specialty paints.
     Paint bases may either be water (80% of production) or
     solvents.  Process raw materials include resin solutions,
     emulsions, solvents, pigments, bactericides, fungicides,
     and extenders, along with defoamers and surfactants.

     Paint production begins with the dispersion of pigments,
     solvents, resins, and additives in a mill (sand, ball, or
     high-speed).  Mills are dedicated to one type of product
     when feasible.

     Additional diluents, resins and additives (bactericides,
     fungicides, etc.) are added to the dispersion mill
     effluent in a process known as let-down.  When the mix
     achieves the desired properties, mixing is stopped, the
     paint is filtered, and the final product is stored in
     various size cans for shipment.

     Waste streams from the production process can be
     characterized as follows: equipment cleaning wastes,
     obsolete stock, customer rejects, off-spec product,
     spills, spent filter bags, and empty raw material bags.
     Waste generation rates were not established.

     The following pollution prevention measures have been
     implemented at the plant.  For equipment cleaning wastes:
     replacement of caustic cleaning solution with proprietary
     alkaline solution, reducing cleanup residual volume; use
     of high-pressure spray systems to clean water-based
     process equipment, reducing waste water volume; product
     dedication of let-down tanks to minimize intermediate
     cleanings; and batch sequencing (light to dark) to
     minimize intermediate cleanup.

     For obsolete stock: using strict inventory control to
     prevent raw material obsolescence; and limiting obsolete
     finished product in the same manner.

     For off-spec products: rework of product into marketable
     goods; increased quality controls; increased process
     automation; ensuring good intermediate cleanup practices
     to prevent contamination of subsequent batches.

     For spills: recovery of product by manual scooping and
     reworking into production line; and minimizing the use of
     adsorbents, as these create additional waste (the
     adsorbent material).

     For filter bags: cleaning and reuse of bags whenever
     possible.

     For empty bags: use of non hazardous pigments to eliminate
     the hazardous nature of the empty bag; use of pigment
     slurries, minimizing bag use; and use of water soluble
     bags that can be added to the batch along with the raw
     material, thus eliminating waste altogether.

     In addition, the plant employs waste stream segregation to
     keep solvent wastes away from water base wastes (with both
     waste streams being reworked into their respective product
     lines); segregation of alkaline cleanup wastes from rinse
     water wastes (with both waste streams reused); on-site
     recycling of water-based equipment wastes; reuse of
     alkaline cleaning wastes and solvent-containing cleanup
     wastes; and rework of returned products into new products.
     Scale of Operation: The facility produced approximately
     8.5 million gallons of paint in 1985, the latest year for
     which data was presented.

     State of Development: The clean technologies are fully
     implemented.

     Level of Commercialization: Certain of the listed
     technologies are commercially available.

     Balances and Substitutions

                               Quantity            Quantity
Material Category                Before              After

Waste Generation
(lb waste/gal product):          0.34                 0

Feedstock Use:                   Information not available.

Water Use:                       Information not available.

Energy Use:                      Information not available.


5.   Economics:

     Economic benefits include a savings of $1.78 million in
     landfill disposal costs from 1983-85.

6.   Advantages:

     Environmental benefits include the elimination of all
     landfilling of solid wastes in 1985, compared to a 1982
     level of 1226 tons landfilled.

7.   Constraints: No information provided.

8.   Contacts and Citation

     Type of Source Material: Case study collection

     Citation: "The Paint Manufacturing Industry: Plant A Waste
     Minimization Assessment", in Case Studies in Waste
     Minimization, Government Institutes, Inc., Rockville, MD,
     United States. October 1991.

     Level of Detail of the Source Material: Additional
     information is available in the text.

     Industry/Program Contact and Address: Information not
     available.

9.   Keywords:  United States, USA, ISIC 2851, paint
     manufacturing, process modification, good housekeeping,
     recycling, material substitution, coating, solvent, water
     saving, filtration, pigment, paint.

10.  Reviewer's Comments:  This case study was originally
     abstracted from the document cited above for the US EPA's
     Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse.  It
     underwent a UNEP IE funded review in 1994 for quality and
     completeness.  It was edited for the ICPIC diskette in
     August 1995.

Doc No.: 241-001-V-000