Our Environmental Policy

In every plant we build, energy efficiency, emissions control and waste management are treated as part of the design — not as a correction added later.

Why at the design stage

In a paint shop most of the environmental load comes down to three items: the heat consumption of the ovens, the air flow of booth ventilation, and the water and chemical consumption of the surface treatment line. All three are the hardest to change once the plant is built; structure insulation, duct cross-section and tank volume are fixed at the outset.

Improvements made after the plant is running usually require production to be stopped. Taking environmental decisions at the start of the project, while still on paper, is therefore both cheaper and more effective.

Energy

• Heat recovery from oven exhaust. Hot air exhausted from the curing oven is used to preheat fresh air. The gain is directly proportional to the oven operating temperature and the fresh air ratio.
• Air flow management in booth ventilation. Running at full flow when no painting is taking place is unnecessary; speed-controlled fans cut consumption during the line’s idle cycles.
• Structure insulation. Panel thickness and seal detailing determine the energy an oven will consume over its lifetime.
• Pressure balance. Air leakage between booths is both a quality and an energy loss; the pressure difference between stages is calculated in the design.

Emissions

In wet paint applications the main item is solvent vapour (VOC); in powder coating it is particulate emissions. Controlling the two requires different solutions: particulates are captured by filtration and can be recovered, whereas solvent vapour requires dilution, oxidation or adsorption.

Which is appropriate depends on the solvent load and the operating regime. We include measurement points in the design from the outset; a measurement port added later usually ends up at a non-representative location.

Water and chemicals

• Cascade rinsing. Clean water enters at the last stage and moves backwards as it becomes contaminated. The same wash quality is achieved with markedly less water.
• Bath life monitoring. Renewing chemicals on the basis of measurement rather than on a schedule reduces both waste and cost.
• Wastewater connection. The treatment connection and discharge point are planned at the start of the project; a line added later usually ends up undersized.
• DI water production. Regeneration waste is included in the calculation of the plant’s total wastewater load.

Waste and recovery

In powder coating, the recovery rate is determined by booth design and colour change frequency. On lines with frequent colour changes the economics of recovery weaken; the booth type and filter solution are then selected accordingly.

On the surface treatment line, the main waste items are sludge (phosphate deposit) and spent chemicals. The disposal route and quantities are data to be declared under the plant’s environmental permit, so estimated figures are produced at the design stage.