TPT November 2011

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46 November 2011 ›
Technology Update
AIR pollution control specialist
AirProtekt has supplied, installed and
commissioned turnkey air pollution
control equipment to abate VOC
fumes and odours from three solvent
based spray painting booths and
baking ovens at an aircraft component
finishing facility.
The Honeycat® concentrator catalytic
oxidation air pollution control and energy
saving system treats the exhaust gases
from the component finishing process
to give a maximum running flowrate
of 12,000Nm3 hr-1 at a temperature of
20°C with a normal VOC concentration
of 170mg Nm -3 MEK, xylene and
toluene. The solvent laden gases are
ducted and pulled through a rotary
honeycomb zeolite wheel.
The solvent from the process stream
is adsorbed onto the hydrophobic zeolite
in the honeycomb wheel. The clean
gases are then transported into the
main process fan inlet and pass via
an exhaust stack to atmosphere. The
concentrator’s honeycomb wheel zeolite
rotor is continuously rotating to adsorb
the VOCs, which then pass into the
regeneration zone where the VOCs are
removed by a small volume of preheated
air, which then passes into a small
Honeycat catalytic oxidation system.
The combination of the VOC
concentrator and Honeycat catalytic
oxidation system means very large
process exhaust flows containing low
quantities of VOCs can be treated by a
cost effective system. This type of system
means that only 5 per cent of the process
flow is treated by the Honeycat catalytic
oxidation system, which represents a
reduction of 20:1. With the increased
VOC concentration the operating cost
for the total system is very low when
compared with alternative systems.
“AirProtekt’s solution to the
challenges posed by this aircraft
component finishing application has
now enabled the new production facility
to comply with statutory emission
regulations for VOCs,” explained Trevor
Lawton, AirProtekt’s managing director.
“The new installation also extends the
company’s global environmental policy.
The Honeycat concentrator catalytic
oxidation air pollution control and
energy saving system also benefits
from much lower capital and running
costs compared with an alternative
thermal oxidation plant solution.”
Overall, the AirProtekt is a low
energy solution for both start up and
online running conditions. The compact
catalytic oxidation system also requires
only minimal upgrades to a customer’s
infrastructure.
AirProtekt Limited – UK
Email:
Website:
Catalytic oxidation system for finishing