From New England Printer and Publisher Magazine January 2009
Bio Air Cleaning System can help Meet Title V air emissions regulations
By: Lisa R. Vallier
The printed word sells products. The printed word inspires people. The printed word teaches children. A printed picture is said to be worth a million words. Printing is used in every industry and every business. It is taken for granted by those outside of the industry. People pick up their newspaper or mail without considering the process behind it. As those in the printing industry know, the process can be dirty. The process can produce high levels of pollution. Employees inhale this pollution daily basic printing operations.
Addressing this problem has been a difficult issue for most printing companies. Venting is expensive and often requires structural changes to a facility. Redirecting pollutants into the atmosphere through vents just passes the problem on to neighbors and the ozone layer. Until now, most companies have implemented control systems, such solvent recovery systems, which are expensive and require a large amount of energy to operate. Another alternative has been carbon filters, which are also costly, and disposal can be hazardous.
Bio-remediation technology is a fairly new approach to controlling the impact of these pollutants. The basic process utilizes bacteria and enzymes that convert hazardous compounds into non-hazardous materials. Small particulates from all types of pollution are electrically charged and move with electrical currents and not ventilation. The CAP™ system neutralizes these particles, draws them in to the unit, where specially designed microbes consume and digest them. Pollution is converted to carbon dioxide and water. One essential ingredient in this process is the presence of water to maintain the biomass. There is no resulting sludge or harmful materials leftover. This biological remediation process is effective with printing blanket wash emissions, coating formulas, VOCs, particulates, diesel fumes, Carbon Monoxide, molds spores, viruses and chemical fumes. Additionally, products may be better quality since particulates are removed from the air.
This Biological Oxidation process has been proven to be capable of reducing pollutants in the air (VOCs, particulates, odors) to meet regulatory destruction standards and has reduced indoor air pollution to acceptable OSHA limits. Printers now have the option to utilize this technology, which is affordable and easily maintained..[1]
A recent case study by Earth Color in Parsippany, NJ showed that Clean Air Plant (CAP™) Technology, a bio-hygeinic system, reduced their VOCs, solvent odors, and other air born particulates by as much as 200 lbs. per day. The facility now has control of their discharges and has been able to lower venting rates and save energy. Their employees were surveyed and overwhelmingly reported an increase in morale and productivity due to the installation of the system. The company expects the system to pay for itself in 16 months.
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A recent case study by Earth Color in Parsippany, NJ showed that Clean Air Plant (CAP™) Technology, a bio-hygeinic system, reduced their VOCs, solvent odors, and other air born particulates by as much as 200 lbs. per day. The facility now has control of their discharges and has been able to lower venting rates and save energy. Their employees were surveyed and overwhelmingly reported an increase in morale and productivity due to the installation of the system. The company expects the system to pay for itself in 16 months.
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Dr. Sam Sofer, President of Air and Water Solutions of Nutley NJ, is the inventor of the patented CAP™ system. Dr. Sofer tested the destruction of printer blanket wash, a solvent used to clean rollers on printing presses between runs. This material is considered an OSHA class IB flammable liquid. Over exposure to the vapors will irritate the nose, throat and lungs and can cause central nervous system depression. Most blanket wash solvents contain petroleum naphtha and dipropylene glycol methyl ether. The exposure levels of the blanket wash were immediately reduced to below the standard OSHA workplace limitations. The CAP™’s destruction efficiency was calculated to be 98.7% for the two CAP™ units. The CAP™ essentially destroyed the entire 210,000 ppmy of blanket wash injected, never allowing the contaminant level to rise above one-half of 1 percent of the injected amount. The CAP™ can bring pollution concentrations of VOC’s to non-harmful and non-flammable levels. This technology is a major advancement in treating indoor air pollution. Traditional solutions like air exchange are not always sufficient. CAP™ eliminates contaminants at the point where they are generated, reducing the need for venting and eliminating odors at their source.
Biological remediation has not only been used in printing workshops but in various commercial enterprises. CAP™ has been recommended for use in hair salons in some counties in Florida. Salons use products with flammable or reactive ratings and, in these counties, are required to exhaust or ventilate the fumes and vapors that are generated. When salon owners were faced with costs over $10,000 to install adequate ventilation and air conditioning systems, they demanded an alternative. Today, CAP™ is the preferred technology in these salons, as it improves indoor air quality, while saving on energy costs. A CAP™ system does not lose any air conditioning or heating which ventilation does. Additionally, with the CAP™ system there are no costly exhaust systems to be installed and maintained.
CAP™ systems are portable and can be moved from site to site as needed. A painting company that uses the CAP™ system travels with it and installs it at each location they are contracted to paint. They report a noticeable reduce of harmful fumes and faster drying. CAP™ systems are environmentally friendly and safe. The BioOxä used in the machines can be compared to the active cultures that are found in yogurt.
This process can also be applied to contaminated water. The CWP™ (Clean Water Plant) is a bio-hygienic system for treating contaminated water streams including industrial process water, wastewater, and contaminated groundwater. Using the same technology as the CAP™, CWP™ units employ an advanced bio-filtration technology that has miniaturized the process of biological oxidation, making it faster, safer and less expensive than conventional technologies.
CWP™ systems are stand-alone units that can be incorporated into an existing process to allow facility operators to reduce water consumption by treating or reusing their process water. Treatment, transportation and disposal (TTD) costs of industrial wastewater are significantly reduced when treated in a CWP™ system.
In ground water applications CWP™ is proven effective in the clean up of contamination associated with leaking underground storage tanks and fuel spills. CWP™ removes fuel additives such as MTBE, BTEX and other chemicals. Their use in spill remediation is far superior to carbon filtration.
The system can eliminate the need for costly vacuum equipment, associated transportation, and disposal. In industrial processes, such as plating and specialty chemical manufacturing, water may still not be acceptable for disposal at a municipal water treatment facility after conventional treatment. CWP™ systems employed in these highly contaminated processes have proven effective in reducing contamination to acceptable levels for treatment facilities. These results have produced considerable cost savings in transportation and regulatory compliance.
CAP™ and CWP™ systems are distributed and serviced by Bio-Cascade, Inc. in Boston, MA. Tony George, President of Bio-Cascade, said in a recent interview, “ Every location we assess has different needs. We provide a customized solution tailored to your business process. We will stand behind each system we sell.” Bio-Cascade offers service to its clients after initial installation. The company will install the machine and provide service if the customer requires it. Many large companies find that their on-site maintenance team can easily service the CAP™ systems on their own. In the case that a company prefers having the machines maintained by an outside vendor Bio-Cascade provides that service as well. For more information visit www.BioCascade.net
[1] Some of the information in this article was based on a previous article in Printing News, By Fred Shapiro (published by Cygnus Business Media), Enzymes to the Rescue for Clean Air
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