Montgomery Chemicals to pay a $36,000 penalty for methanol emissions

Montgomery Chemicals LLC will pay a $36,000 penalty as part of a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for Clean Air Act violations at its chemical manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania.

The facility produces a hazardous air pollutant – methanol – during its manufacturing of sodium borohydride, a bleaching agent used by the paper industry. Based on data collected during an EPA inspection, EPA alleges Clean Air Act violations pertaining to methanol emissions, monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting.

In addition to the $36,000 penalty, Montgomery Chemicals has also agreed to correct the cited violations within six months. The company will also be installing a new scrubber to control emissions, as required by a previous consent order with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

The Clean Air Act requires industrial facilities to closely monitor and control methanol emissions. Although human health effects associated with breathing or otherwise consuming smaller amounts of methanol over a long period of time are unknown, workers repeatedly exposed to methanol could experience adverse effects including headaches, sleep disorders, gastrointestinal problems and optic nerve damage.

Asbestos alert for renovators and DIY homeowners

Do it yourselfers and contractors alike are being warned that they could become the next generation to fall victim to asbestos exposure.

That’s what’s already happening in Australia, the country with the highest recorded rate of asbestos-related deaths from the cancer, mesothelioma.

"Now we are seeing a new wave of these preventable diseases from people exposed to asbestos ... through the home-renovation boom," says Susan Wallace, CEO of Asbestos Free Tasmania.

Every house built before 1990 in that county can have some asbestos, and many renovators still have little idea of the dangers.

Tasmanian Labor senator Lisa Singh told an asbestos summit in Sydney that without a national approach, thousands of Australians would continue to be diagnosed with the condition.

"Without a co-ordinated approach to asbestos awareness and management, an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 Australians will be diagnosed with asbestos-related disease in the next 20 years," Senator Singh said.

"Most of these cases will result from poor management of asbestos in the home."

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Does your company provide asbestos remediation services? We can customize an air scrubber to meet your needs. Contact an Electrocorp service rep for a quote.


Source: TheMurcury.com.au
Photo: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Regional asbestos payouts in the UK South West top 1.5 million dollars

Compensation payouts for asbestos-related deaths and illnesses in the South West of England have topped 1.5 million dollars (1 million pounds).

The settlements are linked primarily to employees who worked at the former British Railways Board’s engineering plant in Swindon.

Asbestos-related illnesses and diseases – which could take up to 60 years to develop – have become so common in the region that they have been referred to as ‘Swindon disease’. Workers in the area have described how asbestos used to blow around like ‘snow’ at the former GWR works, part of which is now the Steam museum.

A charity group, The Swindon and South West Asbestos Group, has been actively lobiying for local families suffering with asbestos diseases. They now offer home visits to sufferers in the Swindon area to advise on benefits available. For further details, contact the group on 01793 532995 or email info@asbestosgroup.co.uk or visit at www.asbestosgroup.co.uk

 

Does your company provide asbestos remediation services? We can customize an air scrubber to meet your needs. Contact an Electrocorp service rep for a quote.

Sawmills ordered to control dust after deadly explosions

Sawmills have to do more to
protect workers from sawdust,
regulators say.

After two recent mill explosions in Canada’s British Columbia, sawmills must remove all accumulated sawdust from their premises

High levels of sawdust in sawmills have proven to be unpredictable occupational health risks.

This week, a devastating blast destroyed a sawmill in Prince George, killing two workers and wounding many others. In January, a sawmill exploded in Burns Lake, also claiming two victims.

The dust has been cited in reports before as a major concern, and now authorities are making it official that mills have to control the dust in their operations and clear it away on equipment and the ambient air.

The air in sawmills should be well ventilated and the sawdust removed from all species and types of wood, officials said.

Potentially dangerous conditions could put workers at other mills at risk.

Source: Globe and Mail

Sawdust also a respiratory risk

It’s not only explosions sawmill workers have to worry about – they could also risk their health by breathing in high levels of dust over a long time.

Extensive dust exposure can lead to cancer of the lungs, throat and nose as well as other lung conditions like COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder) that involves chronic bronchitis and emphysema, studies have shown.

Doctors say that woodworkers face 70 to 80 times the risk of a particular for of nasal cancer, which may develop decades after exposure to wood dust. Many other woodworkers report developing asthma as a result of their exposure to wood dust.

Clean the air with high-efficiency air cleaners

Electrocorp's Dirty Dog air cleaner
can be mounted onto the ceiling
or used on the ground.

In sawmills, woodshops and other high-dust environments, an industrial-strength air filtration system designed to handle a lot of fine dust can help reduce risks and provide cleaner air.

With a special bag filter option designed for large particle filtration, Electrocorp products such as the Dirty Dog or the I-6500 with Cyclone attachment are well equipped to work in environments with heavy sawdust or drywall dust.

The bag filters are easy to clean and reusable. This is an excellent option for situations where a HEPA filter would become blocked too quickly to be effective.

Contact Electrocorp for more information.
 

Report pegs industrial air cleaner market at $6.3 billion US for 2012

Activated carbon is a preferred adsorbent for
gaseous contaminants in many industrial applications.

The Scrubber/Adsorber/Biofilter World Markets report by McIlvaine paints a positive outlook for the industry for next year – forecasting demand from the pulp and paper, chemicals, metals, mining, waste incineration, refining and waste-water industries.

The biggest market will be East Asia by far, the report says, with North America in the second position.

The Canadian and American pulp and paper industry may be looking at scrubbers for recovery furnaces, lime kilns and toxin remobal elsewhere in the processes.

China and Indonesia are expected to be big purchasers, especially for the steel industry (to capture dust and other emissions) and the cement industry, while Indonesia and other East Asia countries have a growing pulp and paper industry in need of odor and chemical control.

Source: Filtration+Separation

Industrial air cleaners for improved IAQ

AirRhino: Powerful air cleaner

Electrocorp offers complete air treatment solutions for a range of industry and business application, including

• Pulp and paper mills
• Chemical processing plants
• Odor and chemical control

The air cleaners feature a large activated carbon filter, HEPA and UV filtration to remove many chemicals, odors, gases, fumes, particles, dust, bacteria, viruses and mold from the ambient air.

Different carbon blends are available to target specific gaseous pollutants.

Contact Electrocorp for more information and recommendations.
  

Canada’s ongoing affair with asbestos

Asbestos tarnishing Canada’s international reputation

The medical community agrees that asbestos
can scar the lungs and cause illness.

It seems to be a question of profits vs. conscience.

At this point, everyone has to admit that asbestos is a dangerous product.

According to WHO (World Health Organization), more than 100,000 people die every year from lung cancer and other respiratory diseases due to asbestos exposure.

The numbers will continue to grow because 125 million people are exposed to asbestos in their workplaces today and every day.

While Canada has banned asbestos from being used, it still happily exports it to other countries where the health standards still have to catch up.

Canada’s province of Quebec was operating two asbestos mines, but a recent CBC article says both have halted production for the first time in the industry's history (see link below).

The industry has changed a lot over the years. Once touted as a miraculous substance that could not be burned or damaged by fire, asbestos soon appeared everywhere – in homes, at workplaces, in cars, in industrial and household products. It seemed to be the perfect material - until the first illnesses became apparent.

It takes up to 40 years after exposure to asbestos fibers to affect people’s health, but the tiny fibers can scar people’s lungs and lead to asbestosis, mesothelioma and other cancers.

For an in-depth look at the history and current state of the asbestos industry in Canada, read the Globe and Mail article.

The AirRhino can go from particle-only
to odor and chemical air scrubber on site.

Asbestos and indoor air quality

Asbestos becomes an exposure hazard when asbestos fibers become airborne during demolition, renovation and construction processes.

Electrocorp has designed powerful air cleaners for asbestos and mold remediation sites that can easily be moved around and feature multistage air filtration systems with HEPA, dust filters, activated carbon and more.

Contact us for more information.

Related posts:

• Construction company exposed workers to asbestos
• Police questioned about asbestos scandal
• Asbestos still a health risk in many countries
• Asbestos and chemicals - a toxic mix
• Asbestos industry comes to halt (cbc.ca)

Asbestos still a health risk in many countries

Factories processing asbestos often
neglected health and safety precautions.

Years after asbestos factories are shut down, the onset of asbestos-related diseases continues to plague countries where people were exposed to the dangerous asbestos fibers.

One such example is Egypt.

A recent in-depth article about the impact of asbestos on Egypt’s population cited studies by the National Cancer Institute and Abbasseya Hospital that revealed a rise of asbestos-related cancer diagnoses in the past few years – despite the fact that Egypt’s asbestos factories were officially shut down in 2005.

The numbers are expected to continue to rise, since there is often a 20- to 30-year time span between exposure to asbestos fibers and the onset of asbestos-related disease.

What is asbestos?

Asbestos describes a group of naturally occurring minerals that can be mined and used in thin, durable threads in a wide variety of materials to make them more resistant to heat, fire and chemicals.

Because of these qualities, asbestos was a common material in home construction and other industries throughout the 20th century.

The health risk is linked to inhalation of minuscule asbestos fibers when the material is disturbed or processed.

The tiny fibers of blue and yellow asbestos (another type of asbestos, white asbestos, is not as harmful to human health, experts say) can penetrate deep into the lungs and stay there, causing the growth of malignant tumors decades later.

Asbestos often causes mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer of the thin membranes lining the chest and abdomen. Symptoms include chest pain, dry cough, shortness of breath and tightness of the chest.

A lack of health and safety measures

Even after many western industrialized countries had become aware of the dangers associated with asbestos, they continued to export it to developing countries.

At least 14 cement factories located around Cairo were using asbestos in the manufacture of water pipes, and failed to introduce security measures - such as the wearing of a mask - to protect their workers, the article says.

Asbestos waste was often carelessly disposed of close to the plant, near residential areas or schools.

Removal of asbestos-containing materials in buildings is difficult because it’s not known or documented where the dangerous asbestos was used, the article says.

And even though asbestos has been banned, companies continue to import the material under the names of subcategories (crocidolite, amosite and chrysotile for blue, yellow and white asbestos), which are not mentioned in the legislation.

Worried about asbestos exposure?

AirRhino: Versatile air cleaner that
can go from particle abatement to
chemical and odor filtration on site.

Asbestos is so dangerous that experts agree it’s better to leave materials undisturbed or to ask remediation professionals to mitigate the problem.

Proper health and safety measures are vital to protect the health and well-being of workers, occupants and residents.

Electrocorp manufactures highly efficient industrial air cleaners for asbestos and mold remediation.

The air scrubbers feature a variety of HEPA and particle filters to trap 99.97% of particles at 0.3 microns, and they can be re-configured to also remove odors and chemicals with deep-bed activated carbon filters.

Contact an Electrocorp IAQ expert for more information and recommendations: 1-866-667-0297.
 

Report names East Asia as biggest market for scrubbers and adsorbers next year

Air scrubbers like Electrocorp's Air Rhino
can remove airborne chemicals, odors and
other toxins in various industries.

According to a report by McIlvaine Company about the Scrubber/Adsorber World Markets on the Filtration + Separation website, East Asia will be the biggest market in 2012 for scrubbers and adsorbers, absorbers and biofilters, with revenues exceeding US$2.2 billion.

In this market, absorbers are likely to constitute the largest segment with revenues of over US$1 billion, the release says, due to Asia rapidly expanding industries that are the major purchasers of absorbers, such as incinerators, steel mills, municipal wastewater plants, chemical plants and refineries.

Absorbers are used to capture acid gases such as SO2, HF, and HCl, while adsorbers and biofilters are used to remove H2S and volatile organic compounds.

They are also used for odour control in food plants and municipal wastewater treatment facilities. Absorbers are widely used in the chemical and petroleum refinery industries.

A big application for dry scrubbers in East Asia is municipal waste incineration, and the cement industry is also an important market. A recent contract for a new cement plant in East Asia included dry scrubbers to remove the SO2 and HCl.

Particulate scrubbers include low pressure drop spray towers, fluid bed scrubbers, and high pressure drop venturis, and East Asia uses particulate scrubbers in some applications where other regions have switched to fabric filters.

Source: Filtration + Separation  

Versatile and cost-efficient air cleaners from Electrocorp

Electrocorp's RSU Series

Electrocorp offers powerful, stand-alone as well as HVAC compatible air scrubbers for a wide range of industrial and commercial applications.

The air cleaners provide excellent odor control with a deep bed of activated carbon and the largest adsorbent surface areas in the industry, HEPA or micro-HEPA particle filters and pre-filters as well as UV germicidal filtration (optional).

The versatile air cleaners come in small footprints and are designed for around-the-clock operation to remove the widest range of chemicals, gases, vapors, odors and particles quickly and efficiently.

Contact Electrocorp for more information and customizable options.