Waste - cash cache?

How 3 manufacturers make waste pay

January 1, 2010

Ever heard the expression, "When life gives you lemons, turn them into lemonade?" Several enterprising manufacturers have found ways to turn waste into wastinade: Orchid Intl. saves $70,000 annually with its wastewater evaporation system; GM operates 54 landfill-free plants globally; metal scrap sales generated $1 billion revenue in 2008, and six of its U.S. plants saved $5 million in electricity costs from landfill gas usage; Brakebush Brothers uses an oil-recovery system to remove oil from its waste, which it then sells to a biofuel producer.

Manufacturers that are interested in being ecoresponsible sometimes are wary that their efforts and resulting changes may be costly. They fear that modifying their facilities and processes to reach greener pastures will require expensive capital outlays.

For three manufacturers–GM, Orchid International, and Brakebush Brothers–ecofriendly practices actually lowered operating costs–and in some cases even created revenue streams.

Orchid Squeezes a Week's Worth of Waste into a 55-gallon Drum

Orchid International annually makes more than 116 million stamped metal parts and components used by manufacturers in the automotive, electronics, HVAC, electric motor, lighting, appliance, lawn and garden, and other consumer products industries (see Figure 1). Its products can be found in nearly every home and automobile in America, according to the company.

What began as a small, one-facility operation in Mount Juliet, Tenn., has grown into a $120 million leader in the North American metal forming industry, with plants in McAllen, Texas; Monroe, Wis.; Newmarket, Ont.; and Monterrey, Mexico.

Die Lube Runoff. The 113,000-sq.-ft. metal stamping and automated assembly facility in Mount Juliet typically runs multishifts. As part of its general facility housekeeping practices, workstations are cleaned to remove water-based die lubricant runoff inherent in the metal stamping process. Motorized floor scrubbers make rounds throughout the plant several times per shift.

"We have to apply a lot of water-soluble lubricant to our dies to produce the part," said Plant Manager Bill Jones. "Inevitably that lubricant is spread throughout the plant as the dies and parts are moved from place to place, primarily on the floor. So we're continually running a floor scrubber to keep the plant clean and safe. In doing so, we generate a pretty good amount of wastewater.

"It's not hazardous waste–other than being slippery–but it doesn't fit the criteria for being discharged into our sewer system, so we have to dispose of it responsibly." At peak production, the process generates about 2,500 gallons of wastewater per week.

"Ninety-six percent of that scrubber waste stream is water and only 4 percent is other stuff. But we still paid the per-gallon price to haul away all the wastewater," Jones said.

"We actually had a 5,000-gallon-capacity tanker trailer truck parked on the lot. We would fill that tanker over a few weeks and pay an environmental company $3,300 per tanker to process and properly dispose of the wastewater."

Evaporator Reduces Volume. Aaron Volz, manufacturing engineering manager, installed and implemented a system that boils off the water, leaving behind only the condensed sludge for disposal (see Figure 2).

Initially the wastewater is manually extracted from the scrubber and loaded into a dump station tank.

"This permits heavy particles like offal and other debris to collect without clogging the system," Volz said.

From there, a 3-inch diaphragm pump transfers the liquid into two 2,500-gal. holding tanks with conical bottoms. "We use those tanks as a buffer between our current use and our future boiling," said Jones. Shutoff sensors indicate when each tank is full.

The wastewater is then automatically fed as needed to a Samsco evaporator via a 2-in. diaphragm pump, Volz explained. The evaporator is equipped with a system of four sensors. A high shutoff sensor prevents overflows, and a low shutoff sensor protects the gas-fired heat exchanger from exposure. Two operating-level sensors set closely together ensure continuous boiling and efficient operation.

"What we've done is set it up electronically so that those tanks automatically batch-feed to the boiler continuously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and keep the wastewater in the boiler at an optimal level," Jones said.

The wastewater burns itself off. The wastewater condensate is removed from the evaporator, stored, and later shipped in 55-gal. drums.

"The tank itself has to be drained about once a month to get the condensate residue out; otherwise, the system runs unattended," Jones said.

Lowers Product Costs. The savings realized from this system enable Orchid to price its stampings and assemblies cost-competitively, Jones said. "It all feeds together. We were having to pay 66 cents a gallon–about $1,650 a week–and we cut that to $100 a week–a $1,500-plus savings. It lowered our overhead so we can be more competitive."

The Cha-ching. So the same 5,000 gal. of wastewater Orchid had hauled away at the cost of $3,300 per tanker can now be condensed into four 55-gal. drums. "Right now we generate about 1,000 gallons a week," Jones added. "So we're able to put a week's worth of waste into one 55-gallon drum hauled away at $50 a drum. So that's pretty significant."

Customers' Reactions. "The intangibles are many," Jones said. "We have a tour route that we bring people through, and the press area is one of the stops. While this is the least well-kept area of the plant because of the nature of what we do there, it's also one of the most impressive areas in that we can show how, as an organization, we are trying to be environmentally responsible.

"Our customers even benchmark us in terms of how we're handling our wastewater because a lot of them are having to handle the same issues we are," Jones said. "This always gets a good reaction."

Risk Reduction. In addition to the monetary savings, Orchid's wastewater disposal system offers additional business benefits, including significant risk reduction. "We are responsible for any spills or accidents from the time the waste leaves our facility until it reaches the handler's docks," Volz noted.

"While any spill is serious, the prospect of having to remediate a 55-gallon drum of condensed wastewater is far less daunting than the prospect of a truck loaded with 5,000 gallons of fluid waste being involved in a highway accident," he added.

The Secret Green Life of GM

It's no secret that Detroit automaker General Motors (GM) has dominated the news lately. While its mercurial sales figures, 230-MPG-netting Chevrolet Volt®, and billion-dollar "bailout loans" have been more widely publicized, the automaker's sustainability initiatives–nothing short of astounding–have barely made a wave in the mainstream press.

The auto giant has been quietly busy reducing its carbon footprint with landfill-free initiatives and waste-to-energy and solar energy sourcing–pretty ecosavvy for a "fuddy-duddy" Detroit Three auto giant.

"For GM, the environmental performance of our vehicles on the road is obviously important, and that tends to get most of the public attention," said Michael Robinson, GM vice president, environment, energy, and safety policy. "But what people probably don't know is that it's also extremely important to us to reduce our environmental impact throughout the entire product life cycle. This means that we're constantly working to make our manufacturing processes friendlier for the environment as well."

Landfill-free. One of the company's most dramatic environmental initiatives is to make half of its global manufacturing operations landfill-free by the end of 2010. Landfill-free status is achieved when all production waste is recycled, reused, or converted to energy. Currently 56 GM global manufacturing facilities operate landfill–free.

To achieve landfill-free status, more than 95 percent of waste is recycled or reused, and more than 4 percent is converted to energy. No production waste or garbage is sent directly to a landfill.

"To put our landfill-free initiative into perspective, when a household puts a single bag of trash on the curb, they are sending more waste directly to a landfill than all our current global landfill-free plants combined," added Robinson.

On-site Wastewater Treatment, Reuse. Part of GM's recycling effort involves treating wastewater on-site. From 2005 through 2008, GM reduced water use at its manufacturing facilities worldwide by nearly 22 percent.

One of GM's newest vehicle assembly plants in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, was designed to reduce water consumption by 30 million gallons per year. All wastewater is pumped into an on-site treatment facility for reuse in the plant.

Waste to Energy. The automaker also uses landfill gas–biogas generated as waste decomposes–to generate electricity in six of its U.S. manufacturing facilities (see Figure 3).

The Cha-ching. The waste-to-energy initiative saved GM more than $5 million in energy costs in 2008, the company said. As a result of GM's global recycling efforts, metal scrap sales generated revenue of more than $1 billion in 2008 (see Figures 4 and 5). In addition to the steel, GM recycled 17,000 tons of wood, 20,000 tons of cardboard, and 4,000 tons of plastic in 2008.

The Shrinking Footprint. GM's landfill-free program diverted over 825,000 tons of solid waste from landfills in 2008. Overall, the automaker's waste reduction efforts at its plants around the world over the past five years have reduced carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 21 million metric tons.

GM's Lansing Delta Township assembly plant in Michigan received a gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) certification. It is the only automotive plant in the world to receive this honor, according to the company.

Brakebush Brothers Turns Used Cooking Oil Into Liquid Gold

Some manufacturers, such as those applying lubricants to metal moving parts in machinery or those using cooking oil to process food, are accustomed to using, draining, collecting, and discarding large batches of oil used directly in their processes. Usually they drain most of the immediately accessible oil directly from the equipment; however, residual oil that remains on the machinery, parts, conveyors, ovens, and fryers must be removed as well, and this can be more voluminous and troublesome than one might expect.

Often the oil mixes with the washwater during regular housekeeping and becomes part of the plant's wastewater stream. Oil in the wastewater complicates the wastewater-treatment process, reduces its effectiveness, and makes it more expensive and time-consuming to filter.

Processed food producer Brakebush Brothers, Westfield, Wis., a family-owned manufacturer, has been producing cooked, prepared, and frozen chicken products since 1925 (see Figure 6). The manufacturer uses thousands of gallons of cooking oil per day. One of the three shifts it runs is devoted just to cleaning its fryers, ovens, conveyors, and other machinery.

After the chicken is processed and the equipment is cleaned, the resulting oil and wastewater mix collects at two lift stations, and then is piped to an on-site wastewater treatment facility. The wastewater passes through a dissolved air filtration (DAF) system. Sludge removed during filtration is sent through a belt press to remove even more water, and the resulting solid waste is hauled away.

Oil Slugs Mucked up the Works. Large slugs of oil were causing problems in Brakebush Brothers' wastewater treatment system. The plant operators were adding additional alum to treat the oil slugs, but doing so ­created more sludge. Also, the oil clogged the system, especially the porous belt press. The operators tried to combat this by adding lime to the belt-press process, which increased the cost of sending the resulting sludge cocktail to the wastewater treatment plant. All of this reduced efficiency and required additional maintenance.

Manufacturers are happy when increased demand requires a production uptick. However, as production volumes increased, the oil slug problems compounded. Brakebush Brothers sought ways to remove the oil from the wastewater before it entered the lift stations to eliminate the need for additional chemicals and maintenance.

Oil Recovery System. The food processing manufacturer discovered a highly effective, low-tech system that removes the used cooking oil from the wastewater before it enters the lift stations and recovers it to be sold to a biofuel producer. Brakebush Brothers purchased two model 6V Brill™ oil recovery systems from Oil Skimmers Inc., Cleveland, to remove oil from the wastewater (see Figure 7). Each skimmer removes 1,392 lbs. of oil daily from the company's wastewater stream. The oil skimmers have:

• Reduced the volume of solid waste needing removal from the waste-water.
• Eliminated the need for additional chemicals to specifically treat the effects of oil in wastewater.
• Created a revenue source from selling used cooking oil to a biofuel producer.

The system uses a unique floating tube. The closed-loop tube–made of flexible, specially formulated plastic–attracts oil but not water. The unit continuously draws the oil-covered tube through scrapers that remove the oil and returns the clean tube to the water surface to gather more oil.

The Cha-ching. The recovered oil is pumped into a 5,000-gal. tanker and is sold to Sanimax, an international company that makes biodiesel fuel from used cooking oil. Brakebush Brothers recoups a third of the cost of the new oil it purchases this way. This approach has worked so well that the company is adding additional skimmers, according to a Brakebush Brothers spokesperson.

In addition, the solid waste is sent to United Grease and Lubricants Co., where it feeds an anaerobic digester that generates electricity for sale to consumers.

The Shrinking Footprint. Not only has the company become a more environmentally responsible company by reducing the impact of its operations on the environment, it also plays a role in supporting its local schools. The company donates used oil to the school system to be converted to biodiesel to power school buses.