Dürr will provide its air pollution control technology for the coating line of Kay Automotive Graphics, destroying up to 98% of VOCs.
The German engineering company Dürr has recently announced that it will provide the new coating lines of Kay Automotive Graphics with its high-efficiency Oxi.X RL regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) to control air pollution and the associated hot oil delivery system.
The awarded turnkey project includes system engineering, design, manufacturing, installation and commissioning of the Oxi.X RL RTO and hot oil delivery system with interconnecting ductwork, filter houses, exhaust stacks, oil piping, pneumatics and electrical.
Kay Automotive Graphics – part of Orafol Group – is a leading OEM automotive supplier producing high-quality self-adhesive films, adhesive tape systems and reflective materials that is expanding its existing facility in Lake Orion (Michigan, U.S.A.) with two new coating lines which will apply colours and adhesives onto films. The printing and coating process requires solvents such as toluene, heptane and ethyl acetate that Oxi.X RL RTO will remove from the exhaust air stream.
The technology of Dürr will then help the company to increase its overall plant sustainability by ensuring significant air pollution control benefits: it will meet the air pollution control needs by destroying up to 98% of Volatile Organic Compounds using thermal oxidation at a rate of 60,000 m3 of process exhaust per hour. The heat recovery system uses clean exhaust air to heat the thermal oil, allowing Kay Automotive Graphics to save over 3,000 kilowatts per production hour by significantly reducing the amount of natural gas typically required to maintain the system, particularly during high solvent load conditions.
In addition, the company will optimise its production and process flow thanks to the hot oil delivery system, which will also improve overall production efficiency by serving as a supplemental heat source to dry the sheets and rolls produced in the facility.
“Our aim is to run the production of Kay Automotive Graphics as energy efficient as possible. Dürr’s state-of-the-art environmental technology and the years of experience with integration into our production infrastructure is a central building block to ensure that,” has stated Randall Mertz, the executive vice-president of Orafol Group.