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ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH BRIEF: WASTE MINIMIZATION ASSESSMENT FOR A MANUFACTURER OF BRAZED ALUMINUM OIL COOLERS
Citation:
Kirsch, F. W. AND G. P. Looby. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH BRIEF: WASTE MINIMIZATION ASSESSMENT FOR A MANUFACTURER OF BRAZED ALUMINUM OIL COOLERS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/M-91/018 (NTIS 91-234484), 1991.
Impact/Purpose:
to inform the public
Description:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has funded a pilot project to assist small- and medium-size manufacturers who want to minimize their generation of hazardous waste but lack the expertise to do so. Waste Minimization Assessment Centers (WMACs) were established at selected universities and procedures were adapted from the EPA Waste Minimization Opportunity Assessment Manual(EPA/625/7-88/003, July 1988). The WMAC team at the University of Tennessee inspected a plant manufacturing brazed aluminum oil coolers that are used in heavy equipment. After the cooler components are fabricated, they are degreased (with Chlorothenet, which is recycled); assembled; brazed to join internal and external coil fin surfaces (involving a molten salt bath and a quench tank whose sludge is disposed of on-site in a sand filter bed); cleaned (with solutions and rinse waters needing treatment and disposal); and painted. The team's report, detailing findings and recommendations, indicated that a significant minimization opportunity could be effected by replacing molten salt bath brazing with vacuum brazing. The implementation cost would be high and the payback years relatively long, but the percent waste reduction (80%) and annual savings would be pronounced. This Research Brief was developed by the principal investigators and EPA's Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH, to announce key findings of an ongoing research project that is fully documented in a separate report of the same title available from the authors.