United States
 Environmental Protection
 Agency
Industrial Environmental Research
Laboratory
Research Triangle Park NC 2771 1
 Research and Development
EPA-600/S2-80-105  Apr  1981
 Project Summary
 Volatilized  Lubricant
 Emissions  from  Steel
 Rolling  Operations
C. J. Mackus and K N. Joshi
  This report presents the results of an
investigation of the  volatilization of
lubricants used in steel rolling opera-
tions. Data  from  nine  steel  rolling
operations were used to define the
volatilized portion  of lubricants used
in rolling operations; and to prepare
total oil, grease and hydraulic fluid
material  balances  for  actual  and
"typical" cold and hot rolling opera-
tions. Estimates of the air  pollution
resulting from both  hot  and cold
rolling  processes  were made from
data acquired by questionnaires, mill
visits, and emission source sampling.
Background information pertaining to
steel rolling operations, lubrication
practices, rolling mill lubricants, and
rolling emulsion application technique
is also presented.
  This Project Summary was develop-
ed by EPA's Industrial Environmental
Research  Laboratory, Research
Triangle Park. NC. to announce key
findings of the research project that is
fully docurrented in a separate report
of the same title (see Project  Report
ordering information  at back).


Introduction
  In a previous study, entitled "The Use
and Fate of  Lubricants, Oils,  Greases,
and Hydraulic Fluids  in the  Iron and
Steel Industry,"  (EPA-600/2-78-101,
May  1978),  it was  determined that a
typical integrated steel facility  may emit,
as air pollution, 10 percent of the total
quantity  of oil, grease, and  hydraulic
fluid used  That study further demon-
strated that 80 to 90 percent of the total
oil, grease, and hydraulic fluid utilized
by an integrated mill were consumed by
the  steel rolling and finishing opera-
tions
  Lubricants,  oils,  greases,  and
hydraulic fluids are potentially signifi-
cant sources of pollution in the iron and
steel industry because large quantities
are used and there are numerous appli-
cations of  these  materials   Pacific
Environmental Services, Inc , was con-
tracted to investigate volatilized lubri-
cant and hydraulic fluid emissions from
the steel industry  As in the previously
cited study, fuel  oils,  solvents, tars,
pitch, transformer oils,  wash oils, and
quench oils were excluded from the
investigation  That previous investiga-
tion  revealed  that  the  two  major
potential sources of volatilized  oils,
greases, and hydraulic fluids were the
rolling/finishing mills and sinter plants
Sinter plants have been and are being
considered  by  other  EPA-supported
studies  and  therefore  were  not
addressed in this study
  The purpose  of this study was to
investigate  volatilization  of  oils,
greases, and hydraulic fluids  during
usage  in  the  steel  industry. A
determination was made of the quantity
and characteristics  of the resultant
hydrocarbon  emissions   The  mam
sources of  volatilized oil  hydrocarbon
emissions  were  identified  and
described by equipment type and plant
area  Lubricating  and  operating

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practices affecting oil volatilization and
hydrocarbon   emissions  were  also
investigated. The four major goals were:
(1)  to  survey the steel  industry  and
collect data to perform oil, lubricant, and
hydraulic  fluid  mass balances  around
individual mill operations; (2) to sample
representative mills to verify the volatil-
ization quantities  calculated  from the
initial mass balance; (3) to identify the
quantity   of  lubricant  volatilized  by
specific mill processes and determine
the resulting  hydrocarbon species and
(4) to develop a standard methodology to
perform mass balances for typical mill
processes from the data compiled from
the previous three objectives.
  The project consisted of the following
data gathering  tasks  The first was a
comprehensive literature search util-
izing the resources of several technical
libraries,  trade journals, texts,  hand-
books,  technical  papers,  and  NTIS
microfiche.  Background  information
was collected on processes and equip-
ment, lubrication practices, and waste
oil collection  and reclamation  Organ-
izations,  societies and  industries
supported  by,  knowledgeable  of,  or
composed of  iron  and steel  personnel
were  contacted to obtain information
useful  for the study The second task
was conducted to obtain detailed and
current data on steel mill lubricants in
the rolling/finishing mill areas. In the
third task, a questionnaire was develop-
ed which  was directed at specific mill
operations Data were  received  from
five plants, and four plant visits were
arranged.  The purpose of these visits
was to obtain additional data, to inspect
equipment  identified  as  significant
hydrocarbon  emissions   sources  of
volatilized lubricants, and to discuss the
proposed sampling program
  Task 5 was conducted at two steel mill
facilities-  the  Inland  Steel  Indiana
Harbor Works  and the Gary  Works of
United States Steel Stack samples from
two cold roll  mills were obtained from
the Inland Steel facility  Ambient (build-
ing) air samples were acquired from the
84-inch hot strip mill located at the U S.
Steel's Gary Works. Rolling oil samples
and  wastewater samples  were also
gathered from each of the locations. A
gas  chromatographic   analysis  was
performed on each of the air samples
Each wastewater sample was also ana-
lyzed  to determine the amount of oil
present m the  water  during  the  air
sampling period
  Laboratory  experiments  of Task  6
were performed under controlled condi-
tions on a typical rolling oil to determine
the quantity of lubricant volatilized and
the resulting hydrocarbon species  The
results  of  this  laboratory simulation
were compared to the m-plant sampling
results and the  material balance esti-
mates of the volatilized oil loss
  The data gathered in Tasks 1 through
6 were reviewed and used to estimate
hydrocarbon  emissions  resulting from
volatilized  lubricants  and  hydraulic
fluids. These estimates were applied to
the specific steel plants included in the
study, a  "typical"  steel  plant, and the
domestic steel industry as a whole  The
types  of  hydrocarbons  produced  by
those evaluated  processes were identi-
fied and quantified wherever possible
Summary of Results
  The findings of this study were in
general  agreement  with  those  of  a
previous  study  which  estimates  a
typical integrated steel plant, with a raw
steel production capacity of 3 6 million
metric tons per year (4 million tons/
year), 6,530 metric tons per year (7,200
tons/year) of oils, greases, and hydrau-
lic fluids are used throughout the plant
Since between 80  and 90 percent of
these lubricants are used in  the steel
rolling  and  finishing operations,  this
study concentrated on those operations.
It was estimated that for a typical cold
strip mill,  total hydrocarbon emissions
were 358 metric tons  per year (395
tons/year). Therefore, the total hydro-
carbon emissions rate for  all cold strip
mills within the U S. is estimated to be
7,1 60 metric tons per year (7,900 tons/
year)   The  confidence  levels  of
estimates  of  hydrocarbon emissions
from hot rolling operations are not as
high as those from cold rolling, primarily
because   insufficient  data  were
collected  to enable more  direct  and
precise  calculation of these emissions.
(Two of  the three methods used for hot
rolling  estimates  agreed  relatively
closely,  the   third  included   two
estimated  variables- one with a factor of
2 range and the other with an order of
magnitude range Incorporating the two
variables  produced  estimates  with  a
factor of 20 range ) Using these esti-
mates,  total  hydrocarbon emissions
from a typical  hot strip mill were 94 7
metric tons per year (104 tons/year) or
2,460 metric tons per year (2,700 tons/
year) for all hot strip rmlls within the
U S  It was  also estimated that of the
total  quantity   of   oil, grease,   and
hydraulic  fluid  used by  the various
rolling operations, approximately 125
percent of the lubricants purchased will
enter the environment as air pollution

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C. J. Mackus and K. N. Joshi are with Pacific Environmental Services, Inc., Santa
  Monica, CA 90404.
J. S. Ruppersberget is the EPA Project Officer (see below).
The complete report, entitled "Volatilized L ubricant Emissions from Steel Rolling
  Operations," f Order No. PB 81-108 003; Cost $17.00. subject to change) will
  be available only from:
        National Technical Information Service
        5285 Port Royal Road
        Springfield, VA 22161
        Telephone: 703-487-4650
The EPA Project Officer can be contacted at:
        Industrial Environmental Research Laboratory
        U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
        Research Triangle Park, NQ 27711
                                                                                    !(JS aOVERNMENTPRWTMa OFFICE 1
                                                                                                         757-012/7069

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Environmental Protection
Agency
Center for Environmental Research
Information
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