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Process methods for improving manufacturing sustainability

<p>Climate change and pollution pose direct challenges to the viability and profitability of manufacturers worldwide. The recent supply chain woes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing geopolitical events demonstrate how upstream challenges including extreme weather can severely impact downstream manufacturers. <a href="https://info.microsoft.com/WE-DIGTRNS-CNTNT-FY21-10Oct-05-SustainabilityGoodforBusinessExecutivePlaybook-SRGCM3881_01Registration-ForminBody.html">Microsoft’s sustainability report for executives</a> highlights $54bn in insured losses in the manufacturing sector in 2020 due to “secondary perils.” These perils include extreme storms, flooding, and forest fires. Up to 60% of all insured losses in the sector resulted from this category. Such challenges are anticipated to increase through the next century and beyond.</p>
<p>Despite this, manufacturers lag behind other industries when it comes to thinking and talking about sustainable practices. When manufacturers <em>do</em> think about sustainability, they tend to focus on innovative new materials, potentially ignoring opportunities to optimize their processes.</p>
<p>No amount of sustainable practice will undo the effects of climate change, but they can contribute to lower operating costs, more efficient processes, and more competitive products in a market increasingly sensitive to social good value adds.</p>
<p>Americo Chemical specializes in providing beginning-to-end solutions for physical and chemical processes in manufacturing. Our Total Systems Approach considers product quality, total productivity, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability in equal measure. Let’s explore how Americo Chemical approaches sustainable manufacturing.</p>
<h2>What do we mean by “sustainable?”</h2>
<p>When you hear the word “sustainable,” your first thought is probably something about the environment. This is the most common way to use the word in a business context, but sustainability extends beyond just the environment. There are also social and economic contexts for sustainability.</p>
<p>For example, changing market conditions including more costly labour and materials can make an otherwise-profitable business unsustainable to operate. Bad workplace culture or poor compensation can make a business socially unsustainable, as its core workforce may leave for better opportunities.</p>
<p>Americo considers sustainability across all three of these dimensions: environmental, economic, and social. Let’s explore how Americo Chemical implements sustainability in its own practices, as well as ways we help clients improve their own sustainability.</p>
<h2>Americo’s sustainability commitment</h2>
<h3>Zero discharge facility</h3>
<p>Americo’s production facility is Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) compliant. This means that during production, no wastewater gets discharged to the environment. Waste materials are collected and handled appropriately. Where possible, water and other materials get cleaned and re-used in other processes.</p>
<h3>PFAS-free products</h3>
<p>PFAS substances are a group of chemicals used in a range of coatings and surface treatments. These chemicals—of which there are millions—typically provide non-stick, water resistant, and stain resistant properties to products. Think of Chemours’ well-known Teflon anti-stick pans. That’s PFAS in action.</p>
<p>While PFAS substances are useful, they’re also harmful to people and the environment. They are so-called “forever chemicals” that don’t break down naturally in the environment. Instead, they persist in ecosystems and even within organisms—humans included—contributing to a range of chronic health conditions including breast and testicular cancer, low fertility rates in men, and various hormonal disruptions.</p>
<p>PFAS and other forever chemicals are targets for regulation and restriction. Recently, the EPA set an official limit on PFAS levels in drinking water. Companies like 3M have made commitments to cease PFAS production by 2025.</p>
<p>Americo is a PFAS-free facility. We have elected not to offer PFAS products as part of our commitment to reducing our environmental footprint.</p>
<h3>Input and output analysis</h3>
<p>Americo operates its own business with the same quality management techniques we apply to each client. By understanding our manufacturing inputs, outputs, and processes inside and out, we’re continually working to improve our efficiency, safety, and environmental sustainability.</p>
<h3>Commitment to long-term employee satisfaction</h3>
<p>We’re proud of the number of long-term full-time employees at Americo. Superior processes are core to our offering. Maintaining a healthy, safe, and happy workforce who know our methodology and can effectively execute our processes ensures customer satisfaction, consistent product quality, and strong company culture. By putting people first, we address both social and economic sustainability.</p>
<h2>How can Americo help make manufacturing more sustainable?</h2>
<h3>Safe and sustainable alternatives to hazardous chemicals</h3>
<p>Safety and sustainability often go hand-in-hand. Safer and more convenient to handle chemicals are easier to use and dispose of properly. No employee wants to risk life and limb dealing with harsh chemicals if an alternative is available. In this way, safe chemistry contributes to social and economic sustainability, as reducing the risk threshold in your facility may increase worker satisfaction and employee retention.</p>
<p>Safer or less polluting alternatives sometimes carry a reputation for lesser efficacy or higher costs. While this may be true in some cases, customization and process adjustments can often mitigate these concerns. A consultation with our team may uncover safer options that don’t hamper your productivity or eat into your margins.</p>
<h3>Phosphate discharge monitoring and management</h3>
<p>While not all municipalities and regions have the same stringent requirements concerning phosphate discharge, it’s become a focus area for wastewater management.</p>
<p>When discharged, phosphates add phosphorus to the local environment. Phosphorus is an important building block for plant life, often acting as a limiting factor in plant growth rate—hence the use of phosphorus-based fertilizer in agriculture.</p>
<p>This becomes a problem when waterways become oversaturated with phosphorus. Disruptive and even deadly algae blooms can occur as a result. These explosions in algal growth result in “dead zones” where oxygen levels drop too low to sustain fish and other aquatic lifeforms. They can clog drains and other infrastructure, ruin recreational areas, and generate noxious odors.</p>
<p>As a result of these challenges, more and more local and state governments demand strict limits on the amount of phosphorus discharged from facilities of all types. We help manufacturers upgrade their wastewater management process, using precipitants, physical filtration, and other methods to reduce wastewater complexity before discharge. This not only protects local environments; there are significant cost-savings associated with decreasing the complexity of your industrial waste in the form of reduced disposal fees and less risk of fines.</p>
<h3>Bath life optimization</h3>
<p>Another way we assist companies in reducing their environmental footprint is by reducing their overall waste output. Many manufacturing processes rely on chemical baths. These baths may require frequent changeover for a variety of reasons: sludge formation, depletion of reactive chemicals, or other forms of contamination.</p>
<p>In many cases, we can increase the so-called “bath life” of your process. That may mean advanced filtration techniques, the use of coagulants or clumping agents to make sludge and debris removal easier, or the introduction of additives that prolong the reactive life of your baths.</p>
<p>By reducing bath changeovers through superior technology, your facility can squeeze more out of every dollar spent on process chemicals while lowering your waste output.</p>
<h3>Counterflow/chemical &amp; heat capture</h3>
<p>While waste is inevitable in manufacturing, there are ways to recapture a great deal of otherwise lost heat with the right planning and setup. In this way, companies can effectively “double dip” on some of their resources, reducing their overall consumption.</p>
<p>A counterflow setup exposes hot process water to cool intake water (or vice versa, depending on the process) in an efficient way, facilitating highly efficient heat transfer. By configuring a counterflow setup instead of a parallel setup, we can help facilities achieve significant utility bill savings by reducing heat waste.</p>
<h3>Equipment rehabilitation</h3>
<p>In many cases, newer equipment offers greater efficiency, including better water and energy efficiency that results in better sustainability. However, equipment changeovers are expensive, disruptive, and have a “pay-back period” before their up-front environmental footprint gets outweighed by more efficient operation. Consider the environmental footprint of an electric vehicle. Replacing a gas-powered car with an EV is a good long-term strategy to reduce emissions, but it may take thousands of miles of driving before the EV “breaks even” versus maintaining the older gas vehicle.</p>
<p>With these practical considerations in mind, rehabilitating equipment can improve its efficiency and extend its life, allowing facilities to budget for an upgrade on a schedule that works for them. By providing a longer runway for companies to upgrade their equipment, we can help make the transition to sustainable technology easier and more affordable.</p>
<h2>Conclusion: a path to sustainability for every manufacturer</h2>
<p>Whether due to a desire for cost-savings, out of a need to avoid costly fines and disposal fees, or stemming from a genuine personal commitment to sustainability, there are strong business cases for any manufacturer to consider optimizing their chemical processes.</p>
<p>On whatever scale you plan to improve your manufacturing sustainability, Americo Chemical is a valuable and experienced partner. Interested in learning more? Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.</p>
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Enhancing Efficiency with Just-In-Time Chemical Blending and Delivery

<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p>Just-in-Time (JIT) manufacturing is a familiar concept to manufacturers of all kinds. Once known as the Toyota Production System due to its association with auto manufacturing techniques pioneered by Toyota, it’s now common practice across manufacturing sectors.</p>
<p>JIT aims to increase efficiency while reducing waste by producing and receiving goods only as they are needed. A more traditional manufacturing process relies on keeping large quantities of materials on-hand. This increases the physical footprint of manufacturing facilities while introducing risks like spoilage issues, material obsolescence, and inefficient resource management.</p>
<p>Though JIT has its own challenges—we all experienced supply chain disruptions during COVID that material warehousing at scale may have mitigated in some cases—it’s considered an efficient and effective best practice in many manufacturing scenarios.</p>
<p>Americo Chemical produces our custom solutions through a JIT model. This article will explain how JIT chemical supply works and why we believe it’s the best way to provide leading chemical solutions to manufacturers of all kinds.</p>
<h2>Conventional chemical production vs. JIT production</h2>
<p>In conventional chemical production, large quantities of pre-blended chemicals are produced and stored until needed. There are some natural benefits to this system: keeping materials on-hand can increase supply chain resiliency in some cases. Certain chemical production processes benefit from economies of scale, meaning that mass production and storage can be cheaper, at least in terms of up-front costs.</p>
<p>There are scenarios where conventional chemical production isn’t cost-efficient. Consider the added cost of storage, both for chemical suppliers and the customers they serve. Having months or years of supply at hand may seem like a good idea, but what if regulations change and your materials are no longer legal to use? What if your process chemicals experience spoilage over time, resulting in degraded performance or high amounts of waste?</p>
<p>A JIT production model blends a smaller quantity of chemicals to specification on an order-by-order basis. Provided the production process is efficient and the logistics system is resilient, this can result in decreased storage fees, less waste, and more possibilities to customize products.</p>
<p>Our quality management emphasis prioritizes continual process improvement. We work with manufacturers to identify and test chemical solutions to their biggest manufacturing challenges. This technique is most effective in a JIT system, where adjustments can be made per order until the highest-performance formulation is identified.</p>
<h3>JIT chemical supply breakdown: how JIT works in the chemical sector</h3>
<p>The following is an example JIT process in the chemical sector. Note the ability to collect feedback for continual performance improvements, something that is difficult to do under a conventional bulk supply model:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Demand Forecasting and Inventory Management</strong>
<ul>
<li>Analyze customer production data to predict chemical needs.</li>
<li>Maintain minimal raw material inventory, relying on a network of suppliers for quick procurement.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Production Planning and Chemical Blending</strong>
<ul>
<li>Schedule blending operations to align closely with customer demand and delivery schedules.</li>
<li>Use automated systems for precise mixing and blending to meet customer specifications.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Quality Control and Packaging</strong>
<ul>
<li>Conduct quality checks to ensure products meet standards.</li>
<li>Package chemicals safely and label with clear handling instructions.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Logistics and Delivery</strong>
<ul>
<li>Organize logistics to ensure timely deliveries, aligning them with customer production needs.</li>
<li>Use real-time tracking technologies to monitor shipments and adjust logistics as necessary.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Customer Integration and Feedback</strong>
<ul>
<li>Deliver chemicals directly to customer’s production lines or specified areas.</li>
<li>Collect feedback to refine the process and implement continuous improvements.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Core benefits of JIT chemical blending and delivery</h3>
<h3>Reduced Waste</h3>
<p>By delivering exact quantities of materials on a consistent schedule, JIT production reduces the potential for waste. Whether through spoilage, obsolescence, mismanagement, or other issues, conventional production tends to be more wasteful. There’s a psychological component to waste, as well. Companies that draw materials from enormous reserves may be less lean in general; their workers may perceive the reserves as effectively endless, prompting them to be less careful about waste and inefficient use. It may also be harder to monitor and control material usage if the reserves are particularly large and monitoring systems are not enforced.</p>
<h3>Cost efficiency</h3>
<p>While JIT may forgo the economies of scale typical of mass production, which can reduce unit costs by producing large quantities of goods at once, it can still be highly cost-effective for customers. By delivering materials and products precisely when they are needed, JIT minimizes the costs associated with holding and managing inventory. JIT enhances operational efficiency by reducing waste and freeing up capital that would otherwise be tied up in excess inventory. This allows companies to allocate resources more strategically, investing in innovation or quality improvements that can lead to better products and services.</p>
<h3><strong>Customization and Flexibility</strong></h3>
<p>Just-in-Time production significantly enhances customization and flexibility in the chemical sector, allowing companies to tailor chemical blends to precise customer specifications on demand. JIT minimizes the need for large inventories, enabling manufacturers to quickly adapt to changes in market demands or regulatory shifts without the burden of excess stock. This flexibility not only reduces waste and storage costs but also allows chemical producers to rapidly incorporate new formulations or adjust existing ones, maintaining competitiveness and responsiveness in a dynamic market environment.</p>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<p>Just-in-Time production offers transformative benefits for the chemical sector by enhancing efficiency, reducing waste, and providing significant flexibility and customization capabilities. By aligning chemical production and delivery with the exact timing and specifications of customer demand, JIT minimizes the need for large inventories, thereby cutting storage costs and reducing risks associated with chemical spoilage and obsolescence. This approach not only supports better resource management and cost savings but also enables chemical manufacturers to swiftly adapt to industry changes and customer needs. Consequently, JIT helps chemical companies maintain a competitive edge, ensure high quality and compliance, and sustain customer satisfaction through tailored products and responsive service.</p>
<p>Americo Chemical provides JIT solutions to a wide spectrum of manufacturing facilities. Specializing in metal treatments and pretreatments, coatings, process chemicals, and wastewater management chemistry, we’re available to help you optimize your chemical inputs.</p>
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IoT and Custom Chemicals: How Smart Sensors Enable Better Manufacturing Outcomes

<p>IoT (Internet of Things) is the name given to a wide range of network-connected devices found in businesses and homes across America. While some people think of things like smart light bulbs and dishwashers when they hear IoT, there are many industrial applications for this networked technology.</p>
<p>IoT “smart sensors” are increasingly common in manufacturing facilities, allowing manufacturers to monitor processes and make data-driven decisions to optimize performance. Smart sensors enable superior quality management by feeding accurate live data back to dashboards and user interfaces. Quality management teams use this info to continually adjust and improve manufacturing performance, efficiency, and ROI.</p>
<p>Today we’ll look at IoT, smart sensors, and their relationship to the custom chemical solutions we specialize in at Americo Chemical.</p>
<h2>Understanding smart sensor technology</h2>
<p>Smart sensors do a lot more than their name may suggest. Sensing conditions like liquid levels or pH is just the first step. Smart sensors collect analog data much like any conventional sensor. Then, they digitize that data—turn it into a value that can be transmitted. This data gets sent to other devices, usually including a centralized computer system, via a wired or wireless connection. Today’s advanced sensors use Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or custom wireless protocols to secure deliver data throughout your facility and beyond.</p>
<h2>Types of smart sensors</h2>
<p>There are as many types of smart sensors as there are types of data to collect. Let’s look at some of the top types of smart sensors found in manufacturing facilities.</p>
<h3>Pressure sensors</h3>
<p>Many industrial processes rely on pneumatic and hydraulic systems where maintaining ideal operating pressure is critical. Pressure sensors use a variety of methods to accurately monitor pressure levels. Many pressure sensors use a diaphragm that flexes or deforms based on pressure levels. The diaphragm’s level of deformation impacts the resistance or capacitance of an electrical component. The degree of impact on this electrical component corresponds to pressure levels in the measured vessel.</p>
<h3>Temperature sensors</h3>
<p>Temperature and pressures are two peas in a pod as they directly correlate to each other. Temperature sensors use a wide range of sensing techniques including purely analog options like bimetallic coils and electrical options like resistance temperature detection, where a metallic component’s electric resistance fluctuates based on temperature.</p>
<h3>pH sensors</h3>
<p>Maintaining appropriate pH is crucial for manufacturing, particularly for metal treatments and coatings. What most pH sensors actually detect is the presence of hydrogen ions. The concentration of hydrogen ions in a substance directly corresponds to its acidity. Using special glass electrodes that develop electrical potential under exposure to hydrogen ions, pH sensors compare the exposed electrode’s potential to a control electrode, deriving a pH value from the resulting difference.</p>
<h3>Conductivity sensors</h3>
<p>Detecting the conductivity of a liquid can determine the presence and levels of dissolved salts and other solids. This is particularly important in industrial wastewater management as dissolved salts contribute to the complexity—and by extension, the cost of disposal—of wastewater.</p>
<p>To calculate conductivity, two electrodes are submerged in a liquid. A current runs through them. The resistance between the electrodes determines the conductivity level, which in turn informs the level of dissolved solids in the measured material.</p>
<h3>Level sensors</h3>
<p>Maintaining appropriate levels in tanks can reduce wear and tear on equipment and prevent damage to cutting tools and manufactured products. Level sensors can work on a number of different principles, from physically detecting the presence of materials at a certain point in the tank to using ultrasonic sound waves to accurate measure even foamy or frothy tanks.</p>
<h3>Flow sensors</h3>
<p>Flow sensors measure the rate of flow of fluids including gases. The simplest method of measurement is to install a turbine or propeller in the pipe or vessel. This measures flow rate mechanically by measuring the speed of the turbine, like a water wheel in a river.</p>
<p>Other methods rely on more complex calculations that calculate flow rate based on thermal mass, ultrasonic waves, or electromagnetic conductivity.</p>
<h2>Smart sensors and quality management</h2>
<p>Smart sensors facilitate quality engineering and quality management in many ways. First, they help to establish baseline performance. Before a process can be optimized, it must be fully understood. Smart sensors validate assumptions and provide clear and accurate data to operators. This means that performance improvements can be tracked and measured against a reliable baseline.</p>
<p>Smart sensors provide granular and timely data to track changes in performance over time. Once smart sensors are installed, the parameters of a process may be adjusted “on the fly” based on accurate data. Testing new methods, including new custom chemical solutions, can be done quickly and with less risk as smart sensors provide immediate feedback.</p>
<h3>How sensor data informs product quality</h3>
<p>The relationship between the temperature of a fluid or the liquid level in a tank and the quality of an end product may not seem clear. Consider the application of a durable coating to a metal part. The quality of that coating may hinge on curing at a specific temperature. If a facility found their curing temperature fluctuated too much based on heating or cooling effects from nearby processes, they could take steps to address temperature fluctuation, thus improving product quality.</p>
<p>Lower than expected liquid levels in a tank of metalworking fluid could result in uneven flow rate, poor cut quality, or expedited equipment failure, all of which can impact both quality and process efficiency. Though these industrial metrics can sometimes seem abstract, their impact on a company’s bottom line can be significant.</p>
<h3>Customized products through data analysis</h3>
<p>At Americo Chemical, we rely on sensor data to enable our Total Systems Approach. By understanding the exact nature of your chemical challenges, we’re able to formulate chemistry that enhances your process.</p>
<p>In some cases, upgrading equipment to address minor mechanical issues like inconsistent flow rate or excess foaming in tanks can be prohibitively difficult or expensive. This is a case where a custom chemical solution—perhaps one with lower viscosity to improve flow rate, or with anti-foaming properties—can maintain product quality at a low cost while preparing for the significant capital expenditure of an equipment upgrade or replacement.</p>
<h2>Enhanced safety through IoT</h2>
<p>Safety in manufacturing should be top-of-mind for any facility. Safety facilitates better profitability through reduced legal risk and less time paid time off for workers due to illness or injury. Safe facilities have fewer production stoppages, improving output and lead times.</p>
<p>Industrial IoT including smart sensors can enhance safety for workers in a variety of ways.</p>
<p>Conventional sensors require workers to check and record their data periodically. This can involve climbing ladders, exposing workers to potentially harmful chemicals, or otherwise putting them in situations with elevated risk factors. IoT sensors can broadcast their data to workers remotely, greatly reducing the number of manual checks required.</p>
<p>Many smart sensors work in tandem with other automation solutions. A smart sensor can be connected to a valve, automatically shutting down a process if the temperature or pressure goes beyond safe limits. It can then log and report the incident, including information on conditions leading up to the incident. This kind of reporting can help facility managers understand points of failure and address challenges before they pose safety threats to workers.</p>
<h2>Future trends in industrial IoT</h2>
<h3>AI and machine learning</h3>
<p>Recent advancements in AI prove promising for industrial IoT. While human analysis is an important component of quality management and process engineering, AI and humans working together may result in even better outcomes. Machine learning models can suggest improvements that humans may miss or never even consider.</p>
<p>AI can also make data insights more accessible to more people. Instead of needing a data science background to interpret results, an AI interface might allow a facility manager to ask questions in plain English, receiving digestible insights from a chatbot.</p>
<h3>“Digital twins”</h3>
<p>Consider a manufacturing process from the point of view of a smart sensor system. It’s a consistent series of actions where various metrics must fall within acceptable ranges. Given enough historic and live data, data experts can create “digital twins” of manufacturing facilities. These are sophisticated digital models of manufacturing processes that can be used to test theoretical changes to the system without impacting production.</p>
<p>A digital twin is a safe sandbox to test ideas. Alternate chemicals with different physical properties can be programmed into the digital twin’s model to see how the new chemicals may impact the process. If the change results in improved metrics in the digital twin, it can be introduced to the real-world facility. Sensors report results from the real-world test back to the model. If the model’s proposed results prove inaccurate, it can be updated and improved based on live data. This cycle of continual improvement ensures the digital twin accurately represents the facility it’s modeled after.</p>
<p>Digital twins can also be used to train new staff on facility operations in a safe way. When combined with AI tools, digital twins may be able to recommend improvements to facility operations without human input.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>In the dynamic landscape of industrial manufacturing, the integration of IoT and smart sensors has proven to be a game-changer, particularly in the realm of quality management. By harnessing the power of these technologies, Americo Chemical can offer customized solutions that enhance production efficiency and ensure the highest standards of product quality. Our commitment to leveraging cutting-edge sensor data not only optimizes processes but also paves the way for innovative approaches to chemical challenges. Whether you&#8217;re looking to refine existing operations or explore the possibilities of advanced IoT applications, we invite you to connect with us. Discover how our Total Systems Approach can transform your manufacturing outcomes, optimizing your operations for the future.</p>
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Sustainability in Chemical Manufacturing

<p>Sustainability in chemical manufacturing is an often-overlooked way that our society can reduce its environmental impact without sacrificing quality of life or economic viability. Did you know that the chemical sector is the most <a href="https://www.iea.org/energy-system/industry/chemicals">energy-hungry industrial sector,</a> and the third-highest carbon emitting industry in the United States?</p>
<p>Sustainability isn’t optional anymore. Nearly every sector has found itself impacted by tightened regulations and customer expectations for sustainability.</p>
<p>In the United States, legal sustainability requirements have grown increasingly stringent over the past twenty years. Maintaining competitiveness with less regulated international markets while meeting ecological commitments is an added challenge for American manufacturers.</p>
<h3>An economic case for sustainable chemicals?</h3>
<p>It’s not all bad news for your bottom line. A commitment to sustainability comes with perks like access to certifications and memberships that keep you informed while promoting your brand. Manufacturers who go above and beyond to reduce their environmental footprint can become certified B-corps. They may choose to join sustainable trade associations, gaining access to industry insights and facilitating partnerships with like-minded businesses. Over the long term, adopting a sustainable chemical process will save money through reduced waste management fees and lowered risk of fees and fines from polluting activities.</p>
<p>The best benefit provided by sustainable chemistry is its positive impact on our communities. Every American deserves to live and work in safe and healthy communities. Sustainable chemical manufacturing results in less hazardous waste, typically requires less energy, and produces fewer secondary pollutants and emissions than conventional processes. These benefits add up to improve the environmental health and integrity of communities across America and around the world.</p>
<p>Let’s look at how sustainability in the chemical sector has evolved over the years, where it’s at now, and how your manufacturing processes can be made cleaner—and in some cases, cheaper and more effective—by embracing a sustainability-first focus.</p>
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<h1>Environmental history of chemical manufacturing</h1>
<p>Through much of the twentieth century, American environmental policy concerning chemical manufacturing could be characterized as lax, non-specific, and incomplete. Until the passage of legislation like the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts between 1970 and 1972, industrial regulation consisted of patchwork local and municipal laws. In many cases, the pre-1970s laws were toothless, vague, or otherwise ineffective at curbing bad behavior.</p>
<p>As a result, many 20th century chemical manufacturers took the path of least resistance. Companies disposed of waste by burying it, dumping it into waterways, or simply allowing waste streams to flow to ground unabated.</p>
<p>This resulted in a number of infamous environmental disasters including the Love Canal incident in New York. The Hooker Chemical Company used the Love Canal region as a dumping ground for a variety of hazardous waste materials before selling the land. Over the next two decades, a school and neighborhood were established in the area. Residents experienced extremely high rates of cancer, birth defects, and poor health as a result of severe chemical contamination of soil and groundwater.</p>
<p>It took about twenty years before concerns about health issues in Love Canal got taken seriously. By the late 1970s, the region was evacuated. It took until the passage of the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act for the federal government to begin remediation—a process that would continue until 2004 and involve the demolition of hundreds of houses and the permanent evacuation of over 900 residents.</p>
<h2>Today’s regulatory framework for sustainable chemistry</h2>
<p>Decades of legislative expansion and refinement have resulted in a more comprehensive framework for managing environmental issues in the chemical sector.</p>
<p>In the years following the Love Canal incident, the US federal government expanded upon existing environmental regulations, for instance by introducing the 1980 “Superfund” program. Superfund taxes oil and gas and chemical companies, maintaining a reserve fund used to clean up waste sites, spills, and environmental disasters caused by industry.</p>
<p>Further expansion of regulations through the 80s and 90s include modernization of clean air laws and expanded disclosure requirements for polluting industries.</p>
<p>Through the 2000s, US environmental laws became more stringent with an emphasis on harmonization with regulations in major export markets.</p>
<p>Today, the philosophy surrounding pollution and waste management is quite different from how these issues were approached in the ‘70s. An increasing focus on environmental and restorative justice attempts to rectify historical wrongs committed by polluting companies against marginalized communities. In a more general sense, regulations have shifted from addressing the outcomes of polluting industry to addressing pollution at the source—intervening during the polluting process rather than merely prescribing cleaner ways to deal with the resultant waste.</p>
<h2>Technology and sustainability: advancements in chemical manufacturing</h2>
<p>While increased scrutiny and more meaningful regulation contribute greatly to a cleaner and greener chemical sector, technological advancements are at least as important.</p>
<p>For instance, one of the world’s most used and most essential chemicals is ammonia. Without it, modern agriculture is impossible. Most ammonia is produced through the so-called “Haber-Bosch process.” Ammonia consists of nitrogen and hydrogen. Nitrogen is freely available in the air we breathe. Hydrogen is trickier to come by. Conventionally, it’s extracted from methane gas using steam—an energy intensive process.</p>
<p>Using a catalyst like iron, nitrogen and hydrogen gases get compressed and heated to high temperatures. This results in the production of ammonia gas, which gets cooled and extracted as a liquid.</p>
<p>Earlier, we mentioned that the chemical industry is the single biggest energy consumer of energy worldwide. Ammonia production is the most energy-hungry process in the chemical industry, requiring about 1% of the world’s energy and producing about 1% of the industrial world’s carbon emissions.</p>
<p>Through technological innovation, that massive energy consumption is dropping. Over the past fifty years, process improvements ranging from advanced heat exchangers that reduce energy waste to greener sources of hydrogen and upscaling of ammonia production facilities have dropped energy usage per ton of ammonia produced by up to 40%. This is an example of process intensification (PI) where a range of process optimizations combine to result in a large efficiency gain.</p>
<h2>Other technologies impacting chemical sustainability</h2>
<h3>Chemical recycling</h3>
<p>For the most part, the chemical industry has always prioritized re-using and efficiently managing reagents when possible. There’s no sense in disposing of a process chemical if it can be cleaned up and re-used or repurposed elsewhere.</p>
<p>Modern methods of chemical recycling allow for even more significant re-use of chemicals. New technologies allow companies to break complex plastics back down into monomers, allowing waste materials to be remade into virgin plastics.</p>
<p>This is promising new technology, though recycling often proves to be energy intensive. Bringing down energy requirements and reducing the process’ cost will make it more viable for manufacturers in the near future.</p>
<h3>Biological chemical manufacturing processes</h3>
<p>One exciting area of innovation in the chemical world is the increasing use of bioengineered organisms to facilitate chemical manufacturing. Imagine a bacteria that eats a feedstock chemical and excretes an end product. This is an emerging reality!</p>
<p>Many companies now specialize in the production of yeast, bacteria, or enzymes that produce useful chemical products. For example, there’s an engineered strain of bacteria that eats methane and excretes materials used in the production of bioplastics. Some engineered microbes can produce natural flavor and fragrance compounds from readily available feedstock, reducing the need for carbon-intensive agriculture in producing and extracting such compounds.</p>
<h3>CCUS (Carbon capture, usage, and storage)</h3>
<p>Carbon capture is an increasingly familiar technology found in many industries. The idea is to prevent CO2 and other greenhouse gases from venting to the atmosphere. By capturing and sequestering such pollutants, industries can lower their emissions without fundamentally altering their process.</p>
<p>In many cases, stored carbon can be repurposed for other processes. CO2 is a critical reagent for many important products and chemicals. It can be used in plastics production, the creation of biofuels, or to create or improve construction materials.</p>
<h3>Solar chemical processes</h3>
<p>There’s no cleaner source of energy than the sun. We use the sun’s energy directly or indirectly in all kinds of ways. After all, what are fossil fuels but ancient plants and animals turned into hydrocarbons? In this sense, they are storing energy from hundred-million-year-old sunlight.</p>
<p>An example of a solar chemical process is the photolysis of water into hydrogen and oxygen. As previously described, important chemical processes like ammonia production rely on hydrogen gas. Solar processes facilitate a low carbon means of splitting water into its atomic components, separating and storing the gases for use in other processes. While the process has its challenges—it can be slow, expensive to deploy, and expensive to scale—it’s a powerful way to reduce energy requirements for major industrial processes.</p>
<h2>Economic benefits of sustainable chemical manufacturing</h2>
<p>Sustainable chemistry offers myriad benefits to our communities and our planet. How does it impact the bottom line for companies that choose sustainable options?</p>
<p>While the up-front costs for sustainable chemicals remain higher than for conventional options in most cases, the long-term view is different. Whether through risk management or access to new business opportunities, a case may be made that sustainable chemicals benefit manufacturers in the short and long term.</p>
<h3>Access to funding and partnerships</h3>
<p>As businesses face increasing scrutiny regarding their environmental record and commitments, those who fail to meet expectations may experience direct and indirect penalties. For instance, many public procurement processes now score applicants on their social and environmental record. Making meaningful commitments to sustainability, like maintaining membership in good standing with environmental groups, can help businesses close more contracts. Some of these groups and associations may present new business opportunities through networking with like-minded partners.</p>
<p>In other cases, a commitment to sustainable practices can open doors to grants and funding. Funding may even be acquired to help hasten the transition to sustainable technology.</p>
<h3>Enhanced worker safety</h3>
<p>Keeping workers safe and healthy keeps them productive. Many sustainable options are also safer and gentler to work with. Companies dedicated to maintaining a safe workplace should audit their chemical usage to ensure that safe and eco-friendly options get prioritized.</p>
<h3>Risk management</h3>
<p>Remember the Love Canal incident we discussed earlier? It’s one of many environmental disasters in the United States. While there are examples of companies “getting away with it,” these disasters can have massive legal and financial consequences for the businesses held responsible. Even in cases where a safer or more sustainable chemical is more expensive without otherwise adding value to the process, if it contributes to reduced legal exposure it may be a good idea to view it as insurance against future problems.</p>
<h2>Barriers preventing adoption of sustainable chemistry</h2>
<p>Across America, more and more companies choose sustainable options. They make this choice for a variety of reasons. Government regulations and financial incentives offer a carrot-and-stick model for adopting sustainable tech. Companies may choose to go green as way to differentiate themselves in the market. Some companies may choose sustainable options for moral reasons.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, there remain barriers that prevent wider-spread adoption of sustainable chemicals.</p>
<h3>Supply chain management</h3>
<p>Because sustainable manufacturing processes tend to be more complex or time-consuming than conventional options, companies may have concerns about supply chain. As sustainable options eat up more market share versus conventional products, we should see an increase in production and supply that will put manufacturers at ease.</p>
<h3>Process adjustments</h3>
<p>Many sustainable products are drop-in solutions. Sustainable ammonia is identical to conventionally manufactured ammonia. In some cases, more sustainable chemicals have different chemical properties than the conventional chemical they replace. A need to swap out tooling or otherwise modify a process is a strong disincentive for many manufacturers. Finding the time to make the swap, train staff on a new process, and still meet manufacturing commitments can be difficult.</p>
<h3>High upfront costs</h3>
<p>Today’s economy is tight, with high interest rates and low capital reserves encouraging businesses across America to carefully manage their spending.</p>
<p>In this context, it’s hard to ask manufacturers to pay more up-front for essential chemicals. Addressing the cost disparity between sustainable and conventional chemicals is a major challenge without a single answer. A combination of subsidies, regulatory pressure, and market pressure (customer demand for more sustainable products) will help close the gap over time.</p>
<h1>Conclusion</h1>
<p>In conclusion, as we face the pressing challenges of climate change and environmental degradation, the chemical manufacturing sector stands at a pivotal junction. Embracing sustainability is not merely an ethical choice but a strategic imperative that promises significant benefits across economic, environmental, and social dimensions. Companies that pivot towards sustainable practices are poised not only to comply with increasingly stringent regulations but also to enhance their market competitiveness through innovation and improved public perception.</p>
<p>As technology continues to evolve and market dynamics shift towards green solutions, the adoption of sustainable practices in chemical manufacturing is not just a forward-thinking strategy—it is an inevitable and essential transition that will define the future of the industry.</p>
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Eliminating Hazardous Air Pollutants and VOCs in Manufacturing

<p>Air pollution is a critical concern for manufacturers of all types. Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) are a class of compounds defined by the United States government, spanning nearly two hundred distinct types. Though not all are created equally—pollutants like benzene are considerably more hazardous to humans than solvents like methanol—limiting the production and release of HAPs is socially, environmentally, and economically responsible. Even relatively harmless air pollution can result in unpleasant odors and irritation among sensitive community members.</p>
<p>Many forms of pollution remediation focus on upstream and downstream factors rather than the manufacturing process itself. There are effective process adjustments that may be made to either capture or destroy pollutants before they impact your workers, facility, or community at large.</p>
<h2>Clean Air Act and Hazardous Air Pollutants</h2>
<p>Since 1990, the American Environmental Protection Agency has maintained a list of regulated hazardous air pollutants. The list’s composition has changed over time, currently containing 188 distinct materials ranging from asbestos to vinyl acetate. Industries that work with these pollutants must adhere to higher standards of regulatory compliance. This includes monitoring and reporting activity, installation of effective filtration and recapture devices, and implementation of strict health and safety standards when handling regulated substances.</p>
<h2>Hazardous Air Pollution in Manufacturing</h2>
<p>In manufacturing, VOCs and PFAS are common hazardous air pollutants, though many facilities have begun to phase out PFAS. Broadly speaking, there are two types of remediation for air pollutants: capture and control. Capture involves preventing the release of air pollutants through filtration systems and chemical intervention. Control involves destroying or neutralizing the pollutants through a variety of methods.</p>
<h2>Measuring capture/control of hazardous air pollutants</h2>
<p>In order to measure improvements in air pollution footprint, a facility must first establish a benchmark. Implementing Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (CEMS) is a logical first step to reducing HAP emissions.</p>
<p>These systems involve several components that help measure both specific pollutants and overall physical complexion of exhaust. For instance, gas analyzers may be tuned to identify and measure specific pollutants like VOCs, while more general sensors may analyze flow rate, temperature, opacity, and moisture content to provide a more general view of the exhaust’s composition.</p>
<h2>Methods of capture</h2>
<h3>Absorption</h3>
<p>Absorption relies on chemical reactivity to capture pollutants before they vent to atmosphere. One example would be forcing exhaust gases through a chamber filled with a reactive liquid that removes specific pollutants. For instance, an acidic solution can remove ammonia from exhaust gases. The removed ammonia can be safely disposed of or extracted and re-used in other processes if it’s economically feasible to do so.</p>
<h3>Adsorption</h3>
<p>Adsorption captures pollutants on the surface of a material like activated carbon. A bed of activated carbon can attract and capture pollutants like VOCs. In most cases, VOCs can be recovered through thermal or steam regeneration, replenishing the adsorbent potential of the carbon while recapturing the pollutant for re-use or destruction.</p>
<h3>Condensation</h3>
<p>Another simple form of pollution capture is condensation. Hot exhaust can run through a cooling system, causing certain pollutants to condense into a liquid for recapture. This works for certain types of pollutants but won’t work for others whose dewpoint is too low to make condensation feasible.</p>
<h2>Methods of control</h2>
<h3>Chemical Scrubbing</h3>
<p>Chemical scrubbing uses reagents to convert a hazardous pollutant to a more manageable form. It’s similar to absorption but focused on disposal rather than recapture. For instance, a sodium hydroxide scrubber can convert dangerous chlorine into relatively safe chloride. This makes management and disposal safer and less costly.</p>
<h3>Flaring</h3>
<p>Perhaps the simplest method of control, flaring refers to burning off harmful pollutants. Depending on the efficiency of combustion, this can greatly reduce the harmfulness of certain pollutants. Compared to other methods, it’s less clean but relatively easy and reliable to implement in relevant processes.</p>
<h3>Catalytic Oxidation</h3>
<p>Many pollutants like VOCs react with catalysts at high temperatures, degrading into their base components: easily managed materials like water and CO2. The process involves pre-heating gases before feeding them into a catalytic converter, usually using a metal like platinum as a catalyst. The gas reacts with the catalyst to generate heat, water, and CO2. After cooling and further filtration, the relatively clean exhaust gas is vented to atmosphere. Catalytic oxidation can be an energy efficient option for cleaning up exhaust gas as the process can sustain itself through heat generated by the reaction. The process does have downsides such as the catalyst’s susceptibility to fouling, which results in degraded performance.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>As we&#8217;ve seen, managing air quality isn&#8217;t just about compliance—it&#8217;s about taking proactive steps to ensure the health of your employees, the environment, and the community. With advanced methods available to capture and control hazardous air pollutants and VOCs, now is the time to assess and enhance your existing systems.</p>
<p>Whether you&#8217;re looking to install a new system or upgrade your existing infrastructure, consider working with Americo Chemical to conduct a comprehensive audit of your current pollution control technologies. By monitoring, analyzing, and addressing your pollution footprint, you can protect your business from costly fines while doing better by your workers, customers, and local community.</p>
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Reducing energy consumption in the manufacturing sector through tailored chemistry

<p>When manufacturers explore options to reduce energy consumption, things like high efficiency equipment and stricter energy use policies come to mind. These are important techniques in decreasing energy usage, but they are not the only techniques. Addressing high energy usage through process chemistry is an important consideration for any energy optimization strategy. Let’s explore the regulatory context spurring energy optimization initiatives throughout the United States before demonstrating several ways that superior chemistry can result in energy savings.</p>
<h2>Energy usage in manufacturing and industry</h2>
<p>In 2022, <a href="https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/use-of-energy/industry.php">industrial activity accounted for 33% of all energy consumption</a> in the United States. 76% of energy usage in the industrial sector is the result of manufacturing activity, meaning that manufacturing consumes about 25% of all energy in the United States each year.</p>
<p>Chemical manufacturing is the most energy-hungry segment of the manufacturing sector, accounting for 37% of manufacturing energy consumption. This number may be slightly misleading on its face; 60% of energy consumption in the chemical manufacturing sector is through non-fuel applications. For example, natural gas is a crucial feedstock for the production of chemical fertilizers. This gas isn’t burned for heat or electrical power, but still gets measured as consumed energy by the EIA.</p>
<p>Given the scale of energy usage in manufacturing, particularly in chemical manufacturing, it makes sense to focus on chemical processes as a means to reduce energy consumption and meet stringent emissions targets set by the U.S. government such as net zero carbon emissions by 2050.</p>
<h2>Start with a process audit</h2>
<p>In order to optimize your energy usage, you must first understand your energy usage profile. This involves installing and monitoring metering systems, identifying low-hanging fruit for energy usage reduction, and other planning and analysis activities. Americo Chemical’s quality management expertise make us a great partner for getting started with process auditing and energy management.</p>
<h2>Chemical solutions to energy problems</h2>
<p>Superior chemical supply can reduce energy footprint at your facility in a few ways. Using chemicals whose production process is less energy intensive reduces upstream energy usage. Chemicals that provide similar benefits at lower process temperatures—or that last considerably longer than alternatives—can decrease energy consumption. Chemicals that improve equipment performance or extend equipment lifespan can also improve energy efficiency.</p>
<h3>Green Chemistry</h3>
<p>Green chemistry can mean a lot of things. Some green chemicals are biodegradable or less environmentally harmful, requiring less recovery or neutralization before disposal. This can have both direct and indirect impacts on energy usage. Consider a chemical solution that requires less heat to decompose into something safe for disposal. The actual process of disposal becomes less energy intensive. Simplified disposal processes are easier and often require less manpower and energy usage.</p>
<p>Green chemicals also include those which are produced with less energy intensive methods. For instance, ammonia production accounts for about 2% of global energy demand alone! Green ammonia is a focus area for the chemical manufacturing industry, with plans to use excess renewable energy during off-peak hours to cut the emissions profile of ammonia production.</p>
<h3>Bio-based and enzymatic chemistry</h3>
<p>An exciting and emerging development in sustainable chemistry is the introduction of bio-based and enzymatic solutions for manufacturers. Though these emerging technologies may not be ready for prime time yet—both are susceptible to higher costs and difficulty scaling production—they may soon offer drop-in replacements for energy intensive and polluting chemistry across the manufacturing sector.</p>
<p>Bio-based chemicals attempt to replace petroleum-based solvents and coatings with chemicals derived from feedstock like corn, algae, or oilseed crops. The idea is that, in conjunction with more energy efficient farming practices, these feedstocks are less polluting and more renewable than conventional chemicals.</p>
<p>Enzymatic catalysts offer benefits such as lower process temperatures and improved safety for workers. They suffer from the same downsides as other bio-based chemicals: higher costs and lower availability. As this technology continues to improve, it may become a disruptive force in process chemistry.</p>
<h3>Implementing an energy-smart culture</h3>
<p>Chemical interventions can reduce energy usage, but only with buy-in from workers and management. In order to achieve the greatest energy savings, businesses must foster an energy-smart culture. Implementing this may require taking actions such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>Establishing energy usage benchmarks and realistic but ambitious and measurable goals.</li>
<li>Creating clear policies and objectives, including new routines and requirements aimed at reducing energy consumption</li>
<li>Providing workplace incentives for reduced energy usage</li>
<li>Leading by example, ensuring managers and supervisors “walk the walk”</li>
</ul>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>As the manufacturing sector grapples with the dual challenges of high energy consumption and increasing regulatory pressure to reduce environmental footprints, the pathway forward requires a multipronged strategy. From rigorous process audits to the adoption of green chemistry and bio-based solutions, there are many methods to tackle the issue. Americo Chemical can be your partner in achieving energy savings through process enhancement and custom chemical solutions.</p>
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Eliminating Hazardous Air Pollutants and VOCs in Manufacturing

Impact of Chemicals on Manufacturing Energy Use

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