A leading producer of mineral wool for nearly 70 years is ready for clean sailing into the future after an environmental control upgrade at its Indiana facility by a CECO Environmental/Kirk & Blum project team. Intended to bring the facility into compliance with tighter MACT provisions on particulate and VOC emissions under the federal Clean Air Act, the upgrade actually took the facility well beyond compliance. "We came in at less than 20% the particulate standards, which allows plenty of room to ensure on-going compliance," according to the customer.

CECO's design/build expert, Kirk & Blum brings more than 90 years experience to air pollution and air handling requirements. The customer made it a controlling requirement throughout the project that production had to keep flowing. System installation and tie-in were planned with that in mind.

To avoid production downtime, the two new cupola baghouses from Kirk & Blum feature compartmentalized design. Filters can be changed in any one of five compartments without disrupting production operations. Kirk & Blum installed the new baghouses and RTO (regenerative thermal oxidizer) adjacent to existing equipment, then made the changeover on a weekend Friday night through Sunday night. "Once the tie-in was complete, all we did was flip a switch and the system started without error," the customer reported.

The project required the integrated efforts of three different CECO Environmental businesses. KBD Technic, Cincinnati, handled the first phase, the engineering study. This CECO unit focuses on providing industry with the most advanced systems in air pollution control and ventilation technology. It offers design engineering, systems analysis and stack/emissions testing services through three separate divisions.

KBD Technic performed a facility assessment, developed compliance remedy recommendations, and generated work scope projections, including options for control technology. These were reviewed by the customer, and technology was selected from the options presented; then bid specifications were drafted.

KBD Technic developed the design specifications for the baghouses, ducting, and a continuous monitoring system, partnering with CECO Abatement, Chicago, on design specifications for the RTO. CECO Abatement is a leading designer and manufacturer of solutions for abatement of organics, particulates, malodorous emissions, and acidic gases from industrial process facilities.

The project was competitively bid to various equipment manufacturers/suppliers, including CECO's Kirk & Blum and CECO Abatement subsidiaries. "We made it clear up front in awarding KBD Technic the engineering study that the design, construction and installation of the new equipment would be competitively bid," the customer stated.

The CECO/Kirk & Blum team proposals were chosen by the customer in the competitive bidding. Equipment fabrication and installation were performed by Kirk & Blum - Indianapolis, one of seven regional Kirk & Blum fabrication facilities.

The contract on the project required guarantees on system performance and project completion. The system had to be operational by the end of the third quarter to allow for shakedown and testing, with compliance achieved by year's end.

MACT compliance was confirmed through independent testing by a third party. Testing for formaldehyde, particulate and visible emissions demonstrated compliance well below limits defined in EPA 40 CFR 63, Subpart DDD, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Source Categories and for Mineral Wool Production. "Kirk & Blum completed the entire project on-time and met every critical deadline placed upon them," stated the client. "We never intended this to be a turnkey project, but that's the way it worked out. Between K&B and CECO, a total turnkey was achieved from engineering analysis to equipment design, build and install."

North American's largest independent air pollution control company, CECO Environmental provides a wide spectrum of air quality services and products through five subsidiaries. CECO is a full-service provider to the steel, aluminum, foundry, metalworking, automotive, aerospace, semiconductor, chemical, cement, and glass industries virtually all process industries.