Pollution Prevention for Metal Finishing 3479

Pollution Prevention (P2) for Metal Finishing 3479

Opportunities may exist to save a significant amount of money for your business and simultaneously protect the environment through P2.

What is P2? P2 is the use of materials, processes, or practices that eliminate or reduce the creation of pollutants or waste at the source. P2 consists of a variety of strategies and techniques that strive to avoid the production of waste and the subsequent costly and sometimes dangerous waste management activities. Waste avoidance or reduction may result in increased facility efficiencies as well as significant savings from lowered waste management costs, raw materials costs, reduced insurance and worker safety costs. There is, therefore, the opportunity to simultaneously improve your bottom line - and protect the environment.

Where can I obtain information? The Business & Environmental Service Centers have compiled a library of P2 reference materials that may help you identify and adopt P2 measures appropriate to your business. The following publications may be requested online:

What are the benefits of P2?

Business Cost Savings: You may realize - reduced energy costs, operational costs, production costs, raw materials costs, transportation costs, treatment and disposal costs, compliance permits, monitoring and enforcement costs.

Environmental Protection: Your employees and patrons will appreciate your leadership in the implementation of business practices that are economically viable, sustain natural resources and diversity, and enhance the quality of life for present and future generations.

Regulatory Relief: It is easier to achieve and maintain compliance once P2 measures have been implemented.

Reduced Liability, Exposure, and Health Risk: Less waste means less liability for environmental problems at both on-site and off-site treatment, storage and disposal facilities. Reducing waste also means less potential risk to human health and safety and reduced worker exposure to toxic chemicals.

Reduced Energy Consumption: Energy conservation and energy use efficiency will reduce costs and the risk of power outages.

What new technologies reduce costs and promote P2?

Non-Cyanide Copper Plating:¹ reduces waste treatment costs and the complexity of treating spent plating solutions. It is an electrolytic process similar to its cyanide-based counterpart. Operating conditions are similar and existing equipment usually will suffice when converting from a cyanide-based process to a non-cyanide process. The process is available for coating steel, brass, lead-tin alloy, zinc die cast metal, and zincated aluminum. The non-cyanide copper plating process reduces safety risks to workers, eliminates cyanide from rinse water and sludges generated during waste treatment, and eliminates the treatment of carbonates in the plating solution.
Non-Cyanide Metal Stripping:¹ reduces waste treatment costs and health hazards to personnel. The process is used to remove metallic coatings previously deposited on parts. These non-cyanide strippers are less toxic than their cyanide-based counterparts and more susceptible to biological and chemical degradation, which results in a less expensive treatment and disposal of spent solutions. The non-cyanide metal stripping process eliminates cyanide from the spent stripper solution, recovers metals from spent solution, and increases the bath life because higher metal concentrations can be tolerated.
Ion Vapor Deposition of Aluminum:¹ eliminates the use of hazardous materials in electroplated cadmium coating processes that contain cyanide. Aluminum coatings deposited through ion vapor deposition replace cadmium coatings and eliminate the use of both cadmium and cyanide. Aluminum is considered nontoxic and the ion vapor deposition does not employ or create any hazardous materials.

What are the benefits of using cleaner technologies for metal finishing?

Benefits

Available Cleaner Technologies

Non- Cyanide Copper Plating

Non- Cyanide Metal Stripping

Zinc/Zinc Alloy Electro- plating

Blackhole Techn- ology

Pollution Prevention

Replaces Cyanide

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Replaces toxic metal

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Eliminates/ reduces wastewater

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Eliminates toxic organics

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Operational

Reduces process steps

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Ability to automate

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Economic

Relatively low capital costs

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Relatively low operating costs

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Relatively low skill level to operate

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Table continued:

Benefits