A $100,000 investment in solvent distillation by Wattyl Australia, a manufacturer of solvent-based paints, paid off for the company in a single year. The company went from sending 130,000 liters of soiled washing solvent to external waste processing facilities every year to slashing disposal costs and developing a new paint product from reprocessed waste. The company’s successful integration of waste solvent processing illustrates why other manufacturers would want to purchase solvent recovery systems today from NexGen Enviro.
Motivations For Change
The Cleaner Technology Incentive Scheme promoted by a government environmental agency brought the benefits of solvent distillation systems to the attention of management. This had never been a priority for the company before, but the potential to cut the significant costs of off-site disposal motivated the manufacturer to test the technology. Wattyl started with a distillation unit capable of processing 800 to 900 liters of soiled solvent daily.
Early Results
The company’s initial exploration of what industrial solvent recycling systems could do revealed that distilled solvent was about 90% pure. Plant operators intended to use the recovered solvent as a cleaner but had to adjust their cleaning processes due to the slightly lower purity level compared to virgin solvent.
A group of management, factory staff, and technical experts resolved this issue after experimenting for three to four months. The group discovered that blending the 90% purity recovered solvent with new solvent yielded a cleaning solution capable of cleaning factory equipment sufficiently.
Turning Lemons To Lemonade
Although the company could redirect 90% of recycled solvents toward cleaning equipment, the distiller still left the manufacturer to deal with the 10% of leftover sludge solvent. Company leaders partnered with a laboratory to analyze the sludge and explore uses for the material.
Chemists eventually arrived at a solution that used the sludge material as a component in a new paint product. This paint would work as a primer. Through ongoing tests, the company improved the new primer paint so that it could be formulated with multiple waste by-products from paint factory operations.
Cumulative Benefits Of Solvent Recycling
A paint plant that at one time was paying to dispose of well over 100,000 liters of liquid waste annually began not only saving money but making money from new products. The adoption of a solvent distillation system greatly reduced the cost of waste disposal due to the on-site recycling of 800 to 900 liters a day.
The 90% of solvent recovered by the distiller allowed the company to cut back on the purchases of virgin solvent. After some experimentation and adjustments, the recycled solvent was able to be integrated into cleaning operations.
The solvent sludge left by distiller proved to be useful in the development of a new product that the company can now sell. The process of reusing the sludge also inspired the recovery of about 60% of all paint waste at the plant.
Overcoming Institutional Lethargy
Companies can be set in their ways due to the pressures of running a competitive business. Investing in new equipment and learning how to maximize the results takes money and time. Staff members must learn to think in new ways. Although the efforts necessary might meet with resistance at first, measurable benefits are achievable.
Management interested in pushing forward with new ideas should discuss the process with stakeholders and focus on the benefits. Due to the high costs of storing and disposing of industrial waste, cost savings can emerge quickly once recycling machines are integrated into plant operations.