Pollution Prevention In DoD & Aerospace Painting Operations

Inland Technology is a research and development company devoted to the development
and validation of environmentally compliant chemistries to replace problematic industrial
solvents such as ozone depleting substances, hazardous air pollutants, and VOC’s.

During the past 20 years, Inland Technology has been in the forefront of solvent substitution
efforts by many commercial industries as well as by the Department of Defense. As a result
of these activities, Inland Technology has developed many technical case studies and
success stories regarding pollution via green technology. Many of these success stories
using green technology have been validated by the U.S. EPA and various state regulatory
agencies.

This paper will touch briefly upon the technical issues involved in solvent substitution. It will
also address a systematic protocol that can be employed to avoid many of the pitfalls
inherent in solvent substitution activities. It will then focus on the process of reducing MEK
and lacquer thinner usages in painting operations through green chemistry and
sustainability technology.

Painting operations create large and problematic waste streams and emissions of
hazardous air pollutants and VOC’s from these painting operations. Some of these
emissions and waste streams originate in the paint that is being used, and are being
addressed by paint formulas. However, in excess of 50% of waste and emissions
generated in painting operations originates from the use of MEK and lacquer thinner for
surface preparation activities and from their use in paint equipment clean up. The
successful elimination of MEK and lacquer thinner for these painting-associated activities
would clearly effect a major reduction from these activities and would also reduce the
generation of hazardous waste and emissions from these facilities.

This paper will cover case studies of successful MEK replacement in painting operations at
DoD and commercial installations. It will detail the substitution process, the resulting
chemistry, and will discuss the equipment validation procedures, work practice changes,
and training required to make each substitution project a success.

In each case study, the end result was a replacement process and chemistry that was more
environmentally responsible and less regulated than the original process