United States ,
Environmental Protection
Agency
Air and Energy Engineering
Research Laboratory
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
Research and Development
EPA/600/SR-94/007 March 1994
EPA Project Summary
Improved Equipment Cleaning in
Coated and Laminated Substrate
Manufacturing Facilities
(Phase I)
Beth W. McMinn and Jill B. Vitas
As a result of the Pollution Preven-
tion Act of 1990, the Environmental Pro-
tection Agency (EPA) established the
33/50 Program which calls for volun-
tary industry reductions in releases of
17 high-priority toxic chemicals, listed
by mass of emissions:
Toluene
Xylenes
1,1,1-Trichloroethane
Dichloromethane
Methyl Ethyl Ketone
Chromium and Compounds
Lead and Compounds
Cadmium and Compounds
Carbon Tetrachloride
Trich loroethy lene
Methyl Isobutyl Ketone
Tetrachloroethylene
Benzene
Chloroform
Nickel and Compounds
Cyanide and Compounds
Mercury and Compounds
The goal of the 33/50 program is to
reduce the total amount of these chemi-
cals released into the environment and
transferred off-site by 33% by the end
of 1992 and by 50% by the end of 1995.
These reductions will be based upon
the Toxic Release Inventory System
(TRIS), with 1988 as the base year.
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 docu-
mented in a separate report of the same
title (see Project Report ordering infor-
mation at back).
Introduction
In support of the 33/50 Program and
EPA's pollution prevention goals, the
Agency's Air and Energy Engineering Re-
search Laboratory (AEERL) is investigat-
ing ways to reduce air emissions of these
17 chemicals through pollution prevention.
The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 de-
fines pollution prevention as "any practice
which reduces the amount of any hazard-
ous substance, pollutant, or contaminant
entering the waste stream or otherwise
released to the environment (including fu-
gitive emissions) prior to recycling, treat-
ment, or disposal; and reduces the hazards
to public health and the environment as-
sociated with the release of such sub-
stances, pollutants, or contaminants."
Pollution prevention efforts offer economic
and reduced health and ecological risk
benefits to many sectors of society that
are not available through traditional pollu-
tion control methods.
In 1991, AEERL representatives met
with industry, academia, and state envi-
ronmental agency representatives to iden-
tify several source categories deserving
of pollution prevention research. Two cri-
teria were used to select the industrial
categories for study: annual toxics emis-
sions and the potential for pollution pre-
vention opportunities. First, the TRIS was
reviewed to identify categories with the
greatest mass emissions of the 33/50
chemicals. Categories with the greatest
emissions were then ranked according to
the potential for successful pollution pre-
vention projects resulting in significant re-
ductions of 33/50 chemical releases. One
of the industries identified during the 1991
Printed on Recycled Paper
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meeting was the adhesives-coated and
laminated paper manufacturing industry
[Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)
2672]. This industry was chosen because
of significant air emissions of 33/50 Pro-
gram chemicals methyl ethyl ketone (MEK)
and toluene as reported through the TRIS.
In October 1991, a meeting was held
between AEERL, pollution prevention ex-
perts, and representatives' of the adhe-
sives-coated and laminated paper
manufacturing industry to discuss specific
pollution prevention projects that would
support the 33/50 Program. Meeting par-
ticipants indicated that emissions of tolu-
ene and MEK from equipment cleaning
operations are second only to emissions
from the coatings and coating application
steps, and, therefore, would present a
good opportunity for the implementation
of pollution prevention techniques. As a
result of this meeting and preliminary in-
dustry inquiries, the scope of the industry
investigation was later expanded to in-
clude other coating and substrate variet-
ies (such as those included in SIC
2671-Coated and Laminated Packaging
Paper and Plastics Film) because the
manufacturing methods and cleaning pro-
cesses are similar; therefore,.technology
transfer is possible over a wider range of
Industries.
Project Objectives
This report presents the results of a
Phase I study to characterize current
equipment cleaning practices in the coated
and laminated substrate manufacturing in-
dustry, to identify alternative cleaning tech-
nologies, and to identify demonstrable
technologies and estimate their emissions
impacts. In order to successfully accom-
plish these objectives, information was
collected from several sources including
literature searches, industry question-
naires, plant visits, pollution prevention
experts, and industry and trade associa-
tion personnel.
Literature searches of EPA on-line da-
tabases, local university library databases,
and Dialog9 were conducted. The Pollu-
tion Prevention Information Clearinghouse
(PPIC) and the Pollution Prevention Infor-
mation Exchange System (PIES) were ac-
cessed on a biweekly basis. The E-Mail
capabilities of PIES were also used to
communicate with other PIES users with
knowledge of the coated and laminated
substrate manufacturing industry.
The second source of project back-
ground information was data retrieved
through industry questionnaires. Two ques-
tionnaires had been distributed earlier to
14 adhesive-coated and laminated paper
manufacturers, primarily pressure sensi-
tive tape manufacturers and tag and label
manufacturers. A separate questionnaire
was prepared for manufacturers operating
under either SIC 2672 or SIC 2641 (Pa-
per Coating anc Glazing) depending on
their SIC. Neither questionnaire was sent
to more than eight manufacturers. The
results of the q jestionnaires were clari-
fied through folbw-up contacts with the
recipients and through revised question-
naires. Over 30 additional facilities (i.e.,
not recipients cf the original question-
naires) were coitacted for further infor-
mation on equipment cleaning practices.
The second grojp of facilities contacted
represented the expanded scope of the
research project, and consisted of facili-
ties involved in the coating and laminating
of flexible substrates (SIC 2671) as well
as those included in SIC 2672.
In addition t3 conducting literature
searches and distributing two industry
questionnaires, contacts were made with
industry and po lution prevention experts
with the Massachusetts Office of Technol-
ogy Assistance (OTA), the North Carolina
Office of Waste) Reduction (OWR), the
Pressure Sensitive Tape Council (PSTC),
the Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute
(TLMI), and equipment manufacturing
firms.
The final souroe of project and industry
information was compiled during seven
site visits (two of which were conducted
previously). The trip reports and associ-
ated data for these facilities were com-
bined with the hformation resulting from
the additional fi/e trips. Together, these
information gathering efforts provided the
background needed to accurately describe
the coated and laminated substrate manu-
facturing industry, to evaluate the range
of equipment cleaning methods used in
the industry, to identify demonstrable tech-
nologies, and tcj> form the foundation for
the project's Phase II and III efforts.
Phase II activities will begin upon the
completion of Phase I. Phase II of the
project will be tr e actual demonstration of
selected alternative technologies. This
phase will quant fy air emissions and other
media wastes, 'ecord production param-
eters, and maks other observations and
measurements necessary to assess the
impacts of the a ternative technology. The
final phase of tf e project (Phase III) is to
conduct technology transfer. Focused
documents suci as conference papers,
journal articles, and newsletters will be
prepared and prssented at industrial work-
shops, pollution prevention conferences,
and other events where industrial applica-
tion of pollution Drevention technologies is
discussed.
Report Organization
This report is divided into five chapters
and three appendices. Chapter 2 identi-
fies and describes current manufacturing
and cleaning practices. It includes an over-
view of the industry's use of raw materi-
als, coating application equipment, current
cleaning techniques, current cleaning sol-
vents, and resulting waste streams.
Chapter 3 describes the evolution of
the industry questionnaires and the meth-
odology by which the recipients were se-
lected. Chapter 3 also summarizes efforts
to compile and tabulate the questionnaires'
results. This chapter identifies current in-
dustry trends in coating formulations, cur-
rent trends in equipment cleaning
methodologies and technologies, and op-
portunities for pollution prevention research
as indicated by the questionnaire respon-
dents.
Chapter 4 discusses some of the pollu-
tion prevention alternatives to currently
used equipment cleaning techniques and
materials. This chapter also briefly identi-
fies some of the opportunities for retrofit-
ting current processing equipment to allow
for the use of waterbased coatings.
Chapter 5 summarizes and evaluates
pollution prevention demonstration oppor-
tunities. Appendix A lists coated and lami-
nated substrate facilities with annual sales
greater than $1 million. Appendix B lists
SIC 2671 and 2672 facilities and their
associated emissions as they appear in
the TRIS. Appendix C contains reports of
the seven trips involved in this investiga-
tion and identification of the improved
equipment cleaning methods for the coated
and laminated substrate manufacturing in-
dustry.
Summary
Facilities within the coated and lami-
nated substrate manufacturing industry
tend to operate in one of two segments:
(1) large facilities operating coating lines
dedicated to one type of product, such as
masking tape or label stock; and (2) batch
processors or plants that manufacture
comparatively small quantities of a wide
variety of high value-added products.
Both segments of the coated and lami-
nated substrate manufacturing industry use
essentially the same cleaning methods,
even though the segments differ substan-
tially in the range of substrates, coatings,
and application equipment used at the
plants. The solvents required to clean
equipment in a coated and laminated sub-
strate manufacturing facility are, in large
part, determined by the resin (e.g., rub-
ber) in the coating formulation.
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AEERL plans to conduct demonstrations
in facilities that represent the two industry
segments. The first demonstration facility
will be a facility operating lines dedicated
to one product type. The focuses at this
facility would be the implementation and
evaluation of a cleaning solvent substi-
tute, improved operating practices, and
process modifications such as Teflon
coated rollers. AEERL has discovered,
through contacts with industry personnel,
that some "dedicated line" facilities are
pursuing these options while others are
not. The focus at the second type of facil-
ity, the batch processor, would be geared
toward improving the efficiency of clean-
ing operations. AEERL has found that the
nature of the batch processing business
requires a high degree of cleaning be-
tween jobs and that this cleaning often
takes place much more frequently than
does cleaning at dedicated line facilities.
The objective at the batch processor would
be to calculate the minimum amount of
cleaning solution necessary to achieve the
required degree of cleanliness. A,second
objective at this facility would be to iden-
tify the optimum method of administering
the cleaning solution. The details and the
results of both facility studies would be
documented in a final report. It is intended
that the case studies described in the final
report will assist not only the dedicated
line facilities and the batch processors,
but also those facilities that have charac-
teristics of each.
•frtl.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1994 - 550467/80210
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B. W. McMinn andJ. B. Vitas are with TRC Environmental Corporation, Chapel Hill,
NO 27514.
Michael Kosusko is the EPA Project Officer (see below). ,
Tha complete report, entitled "Improved Equipment Cleaning in Coated and
Laminated Substrate Manufacturing Facilities (Phase l),r (Order No. PB94-
141157; Cost: $27.00; 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
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
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