United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Air and Energy Engineering
Research Laboratory
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
Research and Development
EPA/600/S2-90/008 May 1990
&EPA Project Summary
Users Guide for the
Conversion of Navy Paint Spray
Booth Particulate Emission
Control Systems from Wet to
Dry Operation
Jacqueline Ayer and Darrel Tate
The use of water curtains for air
pollution control of paint spray
booths is considered a major source
of water and solid waste pollution
from industrial painting operations. It
is possible, however, to eliminate this
water pollution problem and sig-
nificantly reduce the solid waste load
by converting the booth to utilize a
dry filter pollution control system.
The conversion, however, will require
extensive planning prior to actual
facility modification. The users guide
presents the requirements to
facilitate the planning and prep-
aration for conversion of typical
spray booths. Although the manual
addresses modifications of Navy
facility spray booths, the basic
engineering requirements discussed
apply also to other Department of
Defense installations and to
commercial industrial facilities.
This Project Summary was
developed by EPA's Air and Energy
Engineering Research Laboratory,
Research Triangle Park, NC, to
announce key findings of the research
project that is fully documented in a
separate report of the same title (see
Project Report ordering information at
back).
Background
The U.S. Navy (USN) and the EPA
have been exploring methods to reduce
the quantity of hazardous waste
generated from Navy and industrial
painting facilities. One target of these
efforts has been the paint spray booth.
The most common of these booths use a
water curtain to remove particulate
overspray from the emission stream from
the booths.
The large volume of contaminated
waste water and solid waste generated as
a result of air pollution control contains
hazardous paint particles, solvents, and
flocculating and coagulating agents. The
water must be treated and the hazardous
constituents removed before it can be
discharged to municipal treatment
facilities. The resulting sludge also must
be treated as a hazardous material and
disposed of in an environmentally safe
manner. One option to reduce these
problems associated with spray booths is
the conversion of the booth to use dry
filtration for pollution control. The
conversion of paint booths to dry
operation has a number of significant
benefits:
• potentially lower disposal costs,
• potentially lower energy costs,
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• less system deterioration due to
rusting,
• greater reliability and maintain-
ability, and
• improved worker environment.
Users Guide Organization
The guide classifies and character-
izes Navy and similar commercial paint
booths. It also provides a conversion
strategy and a construction work package
of the two dry booth types for conversion
of a typical wet booth. Step-by-step
conversion instructions and guidelinesare
presented The permitting process waste
disposal issues are presented and
discussed. Finally, data are presented so
that a user may develop a cost/benefit
analysis for a proposed conversion for
virtually any booth.
J. Ayer and D. Tate are with Acurex Corp., Mountain View, CA 94039.
Charles H. Dan/in is the EPA Project Officer (see below).
The complete report, entitled "Users Guide for the Conversion of Navy Paint
Spray Booth Particulate Emission Control Systems from Wet to Dry
Operation" (Order No. PB 90-188 7721 AS; Cost: $17.00, subject to
change) will be available only from:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA22161
Telephone: 703-487-4650
The EPA Project Officer can be contacted at:
Air and Energy Engineering Research Laboratory
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Center for Environmental Research
Information
Cincinnati OH 45268
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use $300
EPA/600/S2-90/008
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