For years, fiberglass reinforced baths and showers have been perceived as “commodity” products. Of course, as with any product, there have always been quality differences between brands. Nevertheless, the manufacturing methods employed and the materials used have been roughly similar.
That’s all changed. As of April 21, 2006, manufacturers of reinforced plastic composites are required to meet hazardous air pollutant emissions under new “maximum achievable control technology” (MACT) standards, published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The impact of MACT on manufacturers of plastic composites was that either they would be required to install new controls or they would have to compromise formulations by reducing styrene levels. Styrene is used for two purposes: 1) as an agent for spraying and 2) as a cross linking agent. This gives the hardness and rigidity to items such as bathtubs.
Styrene, a vital component of the fiberglass reinforcement technology, is released into the air during the manufacturing process. While health and environmental concerns have not been confirmed (styrene quickly breaks down in the atmosphere) the EPA’s precautionary measures now require manufacturers to capture and control 95% of its styrene emissions.
In order to comply with the new MACT standards, a manufacturer has several options:
- Ignore regulations and face fines and possible plant closures.
- Reduce the amount of styrene used in the creation of its products, resulting in a weaker product.
- Use lower-emitting, less-effective resins. This option requires the use of more reinforcing material.
- Invest in pollution control technologies that will capture and eliminate styrene. This option allows a manufacturer to create products using the most effective and strongest formulation of materials resulting in the highest quality products.
Manufacturers who do not install sophisticated capture-and-control emissions equipment must reduce the level of styrene they use in their resin formula. The result is a weaker product.
Those manufacturers who are able to solve this problem through capital improvements are able to offer a higher-quality fiberglass reinforced bathing product.
Lasco Bathware has invested more than $20 million to make MACT-compliant capital improvements and renovate its manufacturing plants. This investment provides several distinct competitive advantages.
- Lasco’s investment of more than $2 million in each of its 8 U.S. manufacturing plants means the company now not only meets new clean air standards, it exceeds them.
- By effectively gathering styrene and burning it in a thermal oxidizer, Lasco has reduced styrene emissions by approximately 250,000 tons per year. Using the captured and incinerated styrene as a fuel, Lasco has also reduced its dependence on other energy sources.
- Lasco’s response allows the company to use the optimum formulation of styrene in its fiberglass reinforcement process, resulting in the greatest possible strength, durability and overall quality of its products.
- Lasco has also begun using state-of-the-art robotic technology in its manufacturing process. The effect is greater product quality and reliability.
For this project, the Environmental & Energy Systems division of Dürr Systems installed a Disc Concentrator System. The system included a rotary concentrator with a rotary valve RTO. The rotary concentrator, which features a proprietary material supplied by Dürr’s exclusive supplier, does not allow styrene to polymerize on its surface. Dürr was able to guarantee a five-year life of this material which was a major selling point. A very high efficiency filter was installed upstream to remove any particulate matter coming into the airstream. By utilizing the concentrator system the net cost increase was approximately $2 per unit, a significantly lower cost compared to the alternatives considered. Since Lasco produces greater than a million units per year this represented a significant savings to the company.
This VOC control unit was installed at Lasco Bathware by Dürr Systems
According to Syd Pe, project manager at Lasco, the fuel economy provided by the Disc Concentrator System proved to be a major factor in the final decision. “Because of the fuel economy we were able to increase airflow in the plants without increasing fuel consumption,” said Pe. “We haven’t had much experience with these types of systems and felt that Dürr’s size and expertise afforded us the security we were looking for.”
“We wanted a five year guarantee on the absorbent and that came with the contract,” noted Pe.
According to Jason Valia, regional sales manager of Dürr Systems, the system was designed to operate without any natural gas consumption. The concentrator removes the styrene from the air stream and concentrates it over 10 times and then feeds it into the RTO for destruction. This provides enough energy to sustain the operation of the RTO without the addition of any external fuel.
“A competitor did propose a less efficient oxidizer, a recuperative system, but there was an extremely high fuel consumption for the unit. So, short term ours wasn’t the absolute lowest cost but long term ours definitely will be. Overall, the cost of ownership was much lower than the systems offered by other companies,” said Valia.
This article was submitted by Bob Levy, Levy & Associates, a marketing consulting firm based in New York. Phone: 212 561–9264; Email: [email protected]