Control Technology for Depainting Operations: Estimation of Life-Cycle Costs of Controlling Methylene Chloride in Aircraft-Depainting Operations Versus Alternative Processes
Abstract
Stripping the paint and other coatings from aircraft frames using chemical stripper formulations based on methylene chloride (MC) has been a standard practice at Air Logistics Centers (ALCs) for more than 50 years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently listed MC as a hazardous air pollutant and has subsequently issued National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) for major source categories. EPA specifically promulgated MC NESHAPs for Aerospace Manufacturing and Rework Facilities in September 1995. These standards will require paint stripping facilities that continue to use MC to implement MC emission controls that are at least 95-percent efficient by 1 September 1998. This report discusses the technical feasibility and costs of replacing current MC-stripping operations at ALCs with alternative stripping processes, discusses various MC-control technologies and control strategies that could be applied to current MC-stripping operations at ALCs, and estimates the life-cycle costs of selected alternative processes and MC-control strategies. These estimated life-cycle costs, and the procedures used to derive them, can be used by depainting facility managers to support informed decisions in their selection of NESHAP compliance approaches.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 24, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA344806
Entities
People
- C. D. Wolbach
- Larry R. Waterland
- Shyam Venkatesh