Red Devil, Incorporated, located in Union, New Jersey, is a manufacturer of quality hand tools for the home improvement market. Founded in 1872, the company's main products are stainless steel putty knives and wall scrapers. Red Devil used vapor degreasing with 1,1,1 trichloroethane (TCA) to clean the blades prior to final product assembly. Although TCA is an effective cleaner, it is classified as an ozone depleting substance and has been targeted for removal from industrial use.

With the aid of a Bradley Grant for $50,000, administered by the New Jersey Technical Assistance Program for Industrial Pollution Prevention (NJTAP), the company was able to switch to an aqueous cleaning system. The results were the complete elimination of the use of TCA, reduction of approximately 27,500 lb. of air emissions, and the reduction of 1,500 lb. of hazardous waste (along with the associated disposal costs). In addition, the estimated savings to the company is $39,700 annually.

Plant Overview

The Red Devil facility, classified under SIC Code 3423 (Hand and Edge Tools), is a small plant with 129 employees. The Union facility has been in operation since 1955. Their main product is a line of highly polished and lacquered putty knives and wall scrapers. The cleaning of these stainless steel blades prior to final product assembly has always been a critical step in the operation. The company had traditionally used vapor degreasing with a chlorinated solvent, but desired to switch to a less toxic, more environmentally friendly cleaning method using aqueous degreasing agents.

The Old System

The previous cleaning system used a vapor degreasing process. Steel blades were coated with a paraffin compound as part of the polishing process. To clean the blades, an overhead conveyor moved the polished blades through a dip tank containing 1,1,1 trichloroethane and three 20 MHz ultrasonic units. Upon removal from the wash tank, the blades were then rinsed with TCA and allowed to dry.

Due to the high vapor pressure of trichloroethane, the TCA residue on the blades evaporated quickly at room temperature, leaving a clean and dry blade, but releasing TCA into the air. In order condense vapors and help control air emissions, the system also employed a freeboard chiller. The cleaning process required 29,000 lb. per year of trichloroethane, a toxic, ozone depleting compound. It also produced 1,500 lb. of hazardous waste annually, which was sent off site for recycling.

Project Background

1,1,1 trichloroethane is a popular solvent, which is classified as an ozone depleting substance by the USEPA, and has been targeted for removal from industrial use by the Montreal Protocol and the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. Rather than replace TCA with an alternative organic solvent that meets current regulatory requirements, Red Devil chose to implement an aqueous system for environmental, health and safety reasons. The estimated cost for the project was $114,000. In order to help finance the project, the company applied for a pollution prevention grant.

The Bradley Grant Program, formally known as the New Jersey Pollution Prevention Implementation Incentive Grant Program, was enacted to encourage and accelerate the installation and use of pollution prevention technology at small manufacturers in New Jersey. The Program, sponsored by former Senator Bill Bradley, is intended to show the usefulness of offering grants to small manufacturers in order to encourage pollution prevention initiatives. The Bradley Grants, funded by the USEPA and administered by NJTAP, provide financial assistance to small manufacturers, in order to implement pollution prevention programs at their facilities.

Red Devil was awarded a Bradley Grant for $50,000, (the maximum amount awardable through the program), for the acquisition and installation of aqueous cleaning equipment for blade manufacturing process.

The New System

After investigating the alternatives, Red Devil decided to use spray washing and spray rinsing, and selected a liquid degreaser supplied by the Brulin Corporation of Hawthorne, New Jersey. The carbon steel wash tank that was used in the old system was replaced by a Stainless Steel wash tank, fabricated by Zenith Ultrasonics, of Closter, New Jersey, in order to avoid possible rusting of the tank. The new system used the existing conveyor equipment, thus helping to minimize installation costs.

The new cleaning system consists of a multi-stage cleaning process, using a biodegradable soap-water solution. The washing is performed in a tank equipped with eight 80 MHz ultrasonic units. The blades are sprayed with solution, run through the tank in an ultrasonic wash compartment, run through an ultrasonic rinse component, spray-rinsed with clean, deionized water, and then blow dried with hot off air. The combination of deionized water rinsing and hot blow drying leaves the blades spot-free and dry while avoiding the use of damaging chemicals or the creation of toxic waste. In addition, the wash water is filtered and reused in order to conserve both water and cleaning solution.

Wastewater from the aqueous system is sent to the local sewage authority for treatment. The discharge, approximately 1,200 gallons per day, contains small amounts of the biodegradable detergent and requires no special permits.

Financial Benefits

The total cost for the project was $108,722. The pollution prevention grant covered $50,000 of the implementation costs, which are broken down in the table below.

Installation Expenses for the Aqueous Degreasing System

Installation of the aqueous cleaning system has resulted in a significant decrease in expenses. The estimated annual savings are $39,700. The following table shows the annual financial savings due to the project.

Annual Financial Savings

Red Devil used borrowed funds, at an interest rate of 8%, to pay for its share of the project expenses. The pollution prevention initiative paid for itself in nineteen months. The five year internal rate of return (IRR) for the project was 61%. If Red Devil had implemented this project without the aid of Bradley Grant funds, the payback period would have been three years and the IRR would have been 24%.

Environmental Benefits

Prior to implementation, Red Devil used 29,000 lb. of TCA a year. In 1993, the company released 11,020 lb. of TCA as stack emissions, and 16,445 lb. as fugitive emissions, and disposed of 1,430 lb. of hazardous waste. Because the new system totally eliminates the use of TCA, these emissions are also reduced to zero. The table below summarizes the environmental benefits that have been derived as a result of implementation:

Environmental Benefits

Conclusion

With the aid of the Bradley Grant, Red Devil was able to reduce both expenses and pollution. The successful implementation of their project provided the company with a clean, spot-free blade and eliminated the use of the hazardous substance 1,1,1 trichloroethane. It eliminated the generation of 27,500 lb. of air emissions and 1,500 lb. of hazardous waste. In addition, because there is no TCA in the air around the cleaning tank, the health and safety of the employees are ensured.

Conversion to an aqueous degreasing system has allowed Red Devil to:

• eliminate the storage and handling of 1,1,1 trichloroethane
• eliminate employee exposure to a hazardous substance
• eliminate Toxics Release Inventory and New Jersey DEQ-114 (Release and Pollution Prevention Report) reporting requirements
• eliminate the requirement for a pollution prevention plan
• eliminate air emissions and hazardous waste generation
• eliminate hazardous waste manifests and the price of disposal
• eliminate the need for EPA facility visits to inspect the solvent degreasing equipment
• eliminate permit fees for the operation of equipment
• eliminate the possibility of surface or groundwater spills
• save $39,700 annually.