BOARD MEETING DATE: November 9, 2001 AGENDA NO. 5

Metal casting facilities such as iron foundries generate odor-causing compounds, other VOCs, and particulates from core making and sand handling operations. Cores, resin-bound sand shapes used to create open spaces in molds, are commonly made by mixing new sand with phenolic or phenolic-urethane and other resins. Multiple methods are used to cure or harden the resin. These methods include adding catalysts and curing them by heating to form the desired shapes. These cores are then used in sand molds and destroyed when molten metal is poured in molds during the casting process. Resins used in cores generate odors during curing and casting operations. The sand handling operations mainly consist of molding, casting, sand mixing, sand cooling, and shakeout. Many molds are made from sand, which is mixed with clay, coal, organic additives, and water. Odors, other VOCs including benzene, and particulates are generated from casting and other sand handling operations. These emissions are passed through a baghouse to capture particulates and then vented to the atmosphere. The fine particulates collected in a baghouse, which also contain clay, coal and organic compounds, are normally hauled away and dumped. Since many of the existing foundries are located near or in populated areas, odor is a common source of nuisance for communities around them.

For the past five years, the foundry industry has begun to employ Advanced Oxidation (AO) technology, commercially known as Sonoperoxone^TM, developed by Furness-Newburge, Inc. As used in the foundry industry, advanced oxidants are a combination of water, typically less than 10 ppm ozone and a process-specific amount of hydrogen peroxide that undergo ultrasonic treatment. The addition of AO water containing ozone and hydrogen peroxide has been demonstrated to reduce the benzene emissions by 56% per ton of iron poured, and VOC emissions by 74% (including benzene) per ton of iron poured from sand handling operations. Additionally, this application also resulted in better mold making, increased recycling and reuse of materials, and reduction of dust, thus reducing the consumption of mold materials such as clay. Better mold making resulted in better castings and less scrap metal, thus reducing the quantity of metal that is required to be melted to produce the same number of castings. As a result, energy savings of a million BTU per ton of metal poured (7-8% savings) have been documented. The application of AO technology in such a sand handling system has been found to be economically favorable due to the reduced mold material and energy consumption.

AO technology is currently used in sand handling operations in several foundries in the U.S.; however, it has only been applied for odor abatement purposes in foundry operations in one instance. AO technology has been used for about four years at Pelton Casteel foundry located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to remove odors from core making operations. The AO water containing ozone and hydrogen peroxide was used in a control device consisting of cross flow media scrubber with one packed tower. The system successfully eliminated odors from core related emissions. However, the AO water was not used for the clay bonded sand handling operations.

Thus, the two applications of AO technology, in sand handling operations and for odor control from gaseous emissions, were used separately at different foundries and have not yet been demonstrated as an integrated system at the same foundry.

Gregg Industries, Inc, an iron foundry producing iron castings and machinery, located in El Monte, California, submitted a proposal to integrate the two applications of AO technology in their foundry operations and test the entire integrated system. However, the integrated system will be a modified version of the two systems used separately. One difference will be the design of the control device. Whereas the control device used at Pelton Casteel foundry consisted of only one packed tower, the modified control device will also contain an ultraviolet (UV) photocatalytic oxidation chamber in addition to two packed towers. The additional UV photocatalytic oxidation process uses low-pressure mercury vapor UV lamps illuminating fiberglass mesh impregnated with titanium dioxide/zeolite-based catalyst. The UV photocatalytic oxidation has been demonstrated to destroy odors in multiple household applications. Also, the gaseous stream going into the modified control device will be different. At the Pelton Casteel foundry, emissions from the core making process only were fed to the control device, whereas the modified control device will be used to abate odors from both core making as well as sand handling operations. Additionally, various foundry processes will be substantially re-optimized to establish a technically and economically viable integrated system.

The objectives of this demonstration project are to determine: (1) the effectiveness of the modified control device in reducing odors and VOCs from gaseous effluents generated at core room and sand handling operations, and (2) the overall technical and economic feasibility of the integrated system, specifically whether the savings from the use of AO technology in sand handling operations can pay for the cost of the odor and VOC control device. While the technology will be tested at a sand iron foundry, it could be applied to other types of sand foundries. There are approximately 20 sand foundries in Southern California, which include aluminum, brass, steel, and other foundries.

The project team includes Pennsylvania State University, Furness-Newburge, Inc., TechSavants, Inc., and Gregg Industries, Inc., each responsible for different aspects of the project.

The following tasks will be performed to accomplish the project objectives: (1) installation of integrated system; (2) system optimization tests; (3) analysis and system modifications; (4) long-term performance data testing; (5) data analysis, and (6) report writing.

The proposed project is included in the March 2001 update of the Technology Advancement Plan under Project 2001CFS2-2, "Evaluation, Development and Demonstration of Advanced VOC Control Technologies for Miscellaneous Stationary Sources." Although the control device will be tested at a sand iron foundry primarily to control odors and VOCs, if successful, this new control technology could also have the potential for use at other types of sand foundries. There are approximately 20 sand foundries in Southern California, which include iron, brass, aluminum, and other foundries.

Section VIII.B.2 of the Procurement Policy and Procedure identifies four major provisions under which a sole source award may be justified. Specifically, this request for a sole source award to Gregg Industries, Inc. is made under provision B.2.d.1: Projects involving cost sharing by multiple sponsors. The sponsors and their contributions for this project are listed below under Resource Impacts.

The total cost of this project is $600,000. AQMD’s contribution shall not exceed $150,000. The cosponsors’ contribution will total $450,000. The breakdown of the cosponsors and their contributions is as follows:

Contributor	Funding
Gregg Industries, Inc.	$300,000
AQMD	$150,000
California Air Resources Board	$150,000
Total	$600,000

Sufficient funds are available from the Advanced Technology, Outreach and Education Fund. This fund was established as a special revenue fund for revenues received as a result of fines, penalties, and settlements from air pollution violations. These settlement payments by the violators are to be used by the AQMD for research, development, public outreach and education related to advanced technology and to air pollution and its impacts.

South Coast Air Quality Management District