Home  News 2009 Excellence in Hazardous Waste
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2009 Excellence in Hazardous Waste |
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2009 Winner of Hazardous Waste Reduction
Tennessee Galvanizing (Marion County)
In 2008, Tennessee Galvanizing invested $750,000 to specifically reduce their hazardous waste generation by 100 percent. Working with industry partners, they developed an onsite, closed-loop sulfuric acid recycling unit and a new machine to more completely utilize raw materials. The innovative mechanism behind this success is called “The Skim Machine.” It was designed and built by Tennessee Galvanizing and is the first of its kind. A patent was not secured on this machine, because the company wants to help other galvanizing companies achieve the same success in hazardous waste reduction. In fact, the company also hosted 15 other galvanizers from around the country at the Jasper plant in 2008 to demonstrate their self-contained system. This completely self-contained system now produces more than 1.5 million pounds of ferrous sulfate annually, which in turn is sold for use in livestock feed or fertilizer.
Annual environmental benefits of this new resource recovery and recycling process include elimination of 2,300 tons of hazardous waste in the form of spent sulfuric acid; elimination of 82.5 tons of hazardous waste in the form of spent sodium hydroxide solution; reduced “virgin” sulfuric acid use by 228 tons annually; water consumption reduced by 315,000 gallons annually; natural gas consumption reduced by 20 percent via boiler replacement with tank heaters; and the elimination of more than 100 trucks from the road that were no longer needed to haul spent acid offsite as a hazardous waste. 
Tennessee Galvanizing Inc. of Jasper receives 2009 Governor's Award for Excellence in Hazardous Waste Reduction. (l-r) Deputy Commissioner Paul Sloan; EPA Region 4 Deputy Administrator Beverly Banister; Commissioner Jim Fyke; TN Galvanizing GEO David Ware, TN Galvanizing EHS Manager Dennis Rains, and SWM Division Director Mike Apple.
http://www.state.tn.us/environment/
http://tennessee.gov/environment/awards/09awds/09winners_1.pdf
TENNESSEE GALVANIZING, INC. 1535 INDUSTRIAL BLVD, JASPER, TN 37347 (423) 942-1020 tennesseegalvanizing.com
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