Uniroyal Chemical Company, Inc.

Year Submitted: 2003

Process: Chemical Manufacturing

Industry: Chemical Manufacturing

Wastes Reduced: Hazardous Waste & Air Emissions

Location: Geismar LA

No. of employees: Less than 500 employees

Contact: Jay Patel

Phone: (504) 673-0783

Description:

The Geismar facility produces a specialty chemical with antiozonant and antioxidant protection for synthetic rubber products. The company engineered a way to recycle a process by-product previously collected and incinerated as hazardous waste. A Pollution Prevention team identified the opportunity and investigated until a practical solution was reached.A purification step in the process separates product from the solvent, toluene, which must be distilled to remove product and heavy tars. Recovered toluene goes back in to the process. The P2 goal here was to remove more toluene/product from the by-product stream going to the toluene stripper. The team therefore re-engineered the original product purification step that produced the by-product and designed (using state-of-the-art computer simulation) a special high-temperature distillation column.

P2 Application:

This column has a very special structured packing for better surface area utilization which delivers a better product/solvent separation, a special liquid side draw, and new operational controls. These innovations eliminated the need for multiple distillation columns (or a very large column) and made prudent use of limited existing space and available equipment. These technologies were new to the engineering team.

Environmental Benefits:

The project results exceeded regulatory compliance. Air emissions were reduced 4,850 lbs/yr, and hazardous waste was reduced by approximately 380,000 lbs/yr (corresponding to a TRI reduction of approximately 124,000 lbs/yr as well). Further environmental benefits included fewer hazardous waste tractor-trailer trips through the local communities and reduced opportunities of spills during transfer/transport.

Details of Reductions

Additional Information :

Uniroyal claims this project was economically justified though the company provided no details.

Source: LDEQ