Incineration Furnaces Are Not Actually Incineration Furnaces

The US Clean Air Act's Section 129 defines incinerators using the term "combustion." Although the EPA and frequently the industry use the term "Burning Furnaces," this terminology is entirely incorrect. The process used to remove coatings from parts and equipment does not "burn" or "ignite" anything belonging to the part or equipment placed in the furnace. Pollution Control Products Co. manufactures Controlled Pyrolysis® Cleaning Furnaces (sometimes also referred to as burning furnaces). These cleaning furnaces, introduced to the market by the company in 1971, were designed to help manufacturers comply with the new Environmental Protection Agency clean air standards. Therefore, their fundamental purpose, then as now, has been to provide manufacturers with a safe, effective and environmentally friendly method for cleaning and reusing metal parts and industrial equipment.

Environmental and Economic Impact Has Been Remarkable

Following approximately forty years of service to American industry, the best proof of their success and efficiency is their widespread adoption; an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 units are in use in the United States alone. The economic impact has been remarkable, fundamentally transforming the effectiveness and productivity of many important industry segments such as Electric Motor Remanufacturers, Paints and Coatings Applicators and Automotive Engine Remanufacturers. They are widely used in manufacturing, plastics, chemicals and fiber industries and across more than 800 standard industry classifications including the US Army, US Marine Corps and US Navy. Thousands of furnaces serve companies such as Volvo, Honda Power Equipment, Honeywell International, General Electric, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Kawasaki Motor and DuPont in the United States, and in dozens of other countries worldwide including Europe, where these furnaces have established an exemplary safety and environmental record.

Controlled Pyrolysis® Cleaning Furnaces have never been marketed or used as incineration devices. Their application and operation bear no similarity to solid waste incinerators. "Combustion" is a misnomer and dates back to the days when open fire pits were used to clean parts.

In reality, Controlled Pyrolysis® Cleaning Furnaces do not burn organic materials; instead they thermally decompose them in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere through a process called pyrolysis. Pyrolysis is the destructive distillation of a solid material under heat in an anaerobic or reduced oxygen environment. It is an endothermic reaction, meaning heat must be supplied for the reaction to occur; whereas the incineration process itself produces heat (exothermic). Grease, carbonized oil, paint and polymers accumulating on manufactured parts and equipment break down leaving only small amounts of ash, while gases and particulates are released and emissions are treated by a powerful pollution control afterburner. On average, a 260 cubic foot furnace can clean up to 5,000 pounds of parts and equipment per day. Over a 20-year average lifespan, this means 26,000,000 pounds per furnace. The cost of replacing these parts would be enormous both financially and in terms of production downtime. Controlled Pyrolysis® Cleaning Furnaces eliminate the use and cost of alternative cleaning methods such as open fire pits, hazardous chemicals, abrasives and acids, as well as the environmental hazards created by their disposal. These furnaces greatly extend the life of tools and parts, conserve natural resources and save manufacturers and consumers billions of dollars annually. And they do this with relatively little pollution.

How the Controlled Pyrolysis® Cleaning Furnace Works

Controlled Pyrolysis® Cleaning Furnaces are essentially process furnaces operating at temperatures of 800-900°F (426-482°C) within a primary cleaning chamber. The load placed in the furnace includes parts such as paint fixtures and racks with cured paint, cured polish, cured polymer or other organic material coating in small amounts, automotive engine blocks, electric motor stators, cutting plates, extrusion dies, nozzle tips, heat exchangers or other metal parts. Organic coatings are so thin they typically do not burn on their own. In other words, material will only break down as long as parts are continuously heated by some external means, such as heating within the furnace compartment. The objective in a cleaning furnace is to remove these small organic material coatings to bring metal parts back into service or refurbish them. Cleaned parts range from a few-dollar paint hook or paint hanger to heat exchangers worth over USD 50,000. In the primary chamber of the cleaning furnace (burning furnace) there is no open flame, and the amount of metal loaded in the furnace generally constitutes 80 to 99 percent of the load by weight. On the metal parts there are only small amounts of cured organic coatings, typically corresponding to an average of 1 to 20 percent of the load by weight.

Parts Essentially Do Not Contact Flame

In our furnaces, the primary heat input is directed to a combustion chamber containing flame, so that only heat is delivered to the work area where the parts are located. Essentially the parts do not contact the flame. There is no additional air input to the furnace other than the air required for ignition of the inlet nozzle fuel. Therefore, the oxygen content inside the furnace is reduced to a level that prevents the material from igniting. Heat causes the organic material to decompose into vapors and pyrolysis gases; these are then treated in a secondary direct-fired afterburner. Coatings removed using these furnaces typically do not contain sulfur, chlorine, fluorine, lead, mercury and other similar materials. If these compounds are not present in the organic coatings removed, it is impossible for these units to produce Pb, Hg, HCl, HF, SOx or chlorine dibenzo-p-dioxin/dibenzofuran emissions. The natural gas or propane used to fire the units often contains small amounts of sulfur, so small amounts of SOx are generally produced. All units we supply are equipped with afterburners to destroy CO and VOCs. Since the afterburner is fired with gas, small amounts of NOx will also be produced. Controlled

Pyrolysis® Cleaning Furnaces How They Work

Essentially, Pollution Control's Controlled Pyrolysis® Cleaning Furnaces operate as follows. When the furnace is empty the afterburner temperature is set to idle at approximately 1400°F (760°C) while the furnace temperature remains at 800-900°F (426-482°C). This is accomplished during an "empty fire run" performed when the furnace is first set up by adjusting air and gas flow rates to the afterburner. Once set, the afterburner will operate at roughly the same temperature each time the furnace is run. Since the materials processed in the furnace are cured, they do not release any flammable vapors at room temperature and will not begin to break down significantly until heated to temperature levels above 600°F (315°C). When the furnace is loaded with parts coated with cured paint, cured polymer or other organic materials, this material begins to decompose when the furnace reaches a temperature of 600-700°F (315-371°C). As this material decomposes and turns to vapor, this vapor enters the afterburner chamber and burns, raising the temperature of the afterburner exhaust gases.

When sufficient vapor enters the afterburner chamber to raise the exhaust gas temperature to the set point of 1600°F (871°C), furnace water sprays are activated to cool the furnace and parts and slow the vapor entry into the afterburner.

This prevents large quantities of vapor and pyrolysis gas from entering the afterburner. When all organic materials are removed from the parts, the afterburner temperature will drop to its idle point. Therefore, the processing rate of organic material is strictly limited by the size of the afterburner. Typical materials cleaned in the furnace are organic compounds that do not contain elements such as lead, mercury, cadmium, chlorine, fluorine and sulfur. If these materials are not present in the organic material, it is impossible for the furnace to produce an emission containing any of these compounds. The typical emissions from one of our large pyrolysis furnaces will be particulate matter, NOx, small amounts of VOCs, SOx and CO. Most of the VOCs are destroyed in the afterburner and typical VOC emission rates are less than 0.08 pound per hour (36 grams) even from a large furnace. In summary, these furnaces are used to clean relatively thin paint, plastic, oil and other organic material coatings from metal parts primarily through a process known as pyrolysis (thermal decomposition in an oxygen-free or reduced oxygen environment). These materials are converted to vapors and gas through the pyrolysis process, and these potential emissions are controlled by an integrated afterburner that converts them to mostly CO2 and water vapor with small amounts of PM, SOx, NOx, VOCs and CO before they are released to the atmosphere. Therefore, the afterburner functions as an air pollution control device. Controlled Pyrolysis® Cleaning Furnace Applications

Superior to Alternative Part Cleaning Methods and "Greener"

Abrasive blasting will not work on many tools and mold parts with small cavities (such as cutting plates, flats, blower dam molds, heat exchangers, etc.), so for most parts chemical cleaning is the only alternative. Furthermore, abrasive blasting will not work on many materials because the abrasive simply bounces back off the material. Chemical cleaning is ineffective for many polymers. Even for customers who can clean their parts with abrasive blasting or chemical cleaning, the risks and costs are high. The ultimate environmental impact of each of these alternative methods, based on electricity consumption or chemical evaporation, and the costs and hazards of handling and disposal, will be far greater compared to the minimal emissions from the burning furnace. Historically, burning furnaces keep thousands of tons of chemicals and VOCs out of the environment every year. A Pollution Control customer and commercial cleaner in Europe commented: "In the EU, we regularly test the ash residue and most often encounter extremely small and immeasurably small amounts of hydrocarbons.

" Pollution Control Products Co. manufactures cleaning furnaces covering the entire thermal stripping and cleaning field, which finds application in over 800 industry classifications. The DryCleaner Model Stripping Furnace is for parts containing easily flammable material up to 2 percent, maximum 800°F (427°C).

Essentially designed to safely and economically clean small amounts of polish, insulation, epoxy, paint, oil, grease, plastic, etc. material coating electric motor stators, transformers, end bells, engine blocks and other metal parts. The automatically controlled water injection system eliminates the risk of parts being damaged by excessive heat. Served sectors include Electric Motor Remanufacturers, Automotive Engine Remanufacturers and Oil Field Production. Controlled Pyrolysis® Ovens (PTR) (Controlled Pyrolysis® Furnaces) are for parts containing easily flammable material from 2 to 15 percent, maximum 800°F (427°C). Designed to safely and economically clean small amounts of polish, insulation, epoxy, paint, oil, grease, plastic etc. material - the same flammable materials as the DryCleaner models but in larger quantities; suitable up to 15 percent by weight. It has a patented, highly precise automatic control system providing additional protection against overheating while offering greater operational flexibility. This system, positioned at the afterburner exhaust, measures exhaust temperature to monitor smoke emission rate and then activates a water spray if the temperature exceeds the set point. Served sectors include hundreds of sectors with Paints and Powder Coating operations, Electric Motor Remanufacturers, Automotive Engine Remanufacturers, Oil and Gas Operations and many other industrial applications.

RateControlledTM Ovens (PRC) (Rate ControlledTM Furnaces) for parts containing easily flammable material up to 25 percent, maximum 800°F (427°C).

Designed to safely and economically clean small amounts of polish, insulation, epoxy, paint, oil, grease, plastic etc. material - the same flammable materials as the Controlled Pyrolysis® models but suitable for larger quantities with varying flammable material content. The advanced temperature control system has a faster overheating reaction time. It detects overheating as soon as it begins, then monitors the rate of temperature increase in the furnace and afterburner and the smoke emission rate in the exhaust. If any of these accelerate too rapidly, a water spray is activated for safe operation. Served sectors include application areas with high volatile flammable material content such as partially cured paint films on racks and oil-immersed transformers in varying load sizes and other difficult-to-process materials. Inert Gas IGG Burning Furnaces / Plastics and Fiber Applications for parts containing easily flammable material up to 50 percent, maximum 900°F (482°C). Designed by a polymer chemist, Pollution Control's patented InertGas models can process any flammable material that can be legally cleaned with heat, even space-age manufactured plastics and polymers. A patented temperature control system creates an oxygen-deficient atmosphere inside the furnace. The low oxygen level eliminates fire risk and allows large volumes of highly flammable material to be processed. Served sectors include chemical, plastics and fiber manufacturers and processors. Diesel Particulate Filter Cleaning Furnaces for parts containing easily flammable material from 2 to 15 percent, maximum 800°F (427°C). Designed to safely and economically clean Diesel Particulate Filters. Each furnace is equipped with a specially designed cleaning basket that directs air to each filter to ensure effective heat distribution, comprehensive cleaning and complete removal of carbon and other particulates clogging the filter. Served sectors include private and official bus and truck fleets.