ROHM & HAAS (FORMERLY MORTON)
MAKES GOOD ON PROMISES TO NEIGHBORS
On May 27, 2004 , the Rohm & Haas Community Advisory Council conducted a tour of its chemical manufacturing plant in Reading . The company has made impressive progress toward fulfilling its commitments to the Good Neighbor Campaign, by installing an odor control system, and a methyl chloride recovery system that has dramatically reduced the plant's emissions of its primary pollutant.
Odor control
The odor control system actively exhausts the highly odorous fumes from its methyltin process through a single stack. Prior operations allowed lots of “fugitive” emissions to escape through open doors and windows, and now all of these fumes are drawn by suction into ducts that go to the stack.The company environmental engineer used air dispersion modeling to determine a stack height that will allow fumes to disperse before reaching the fenceline. The concept behind this design - “dilution is the solution to pollution” – while not a good choice for dealing with toxic emissions, seems to be acceptable in dealing with compounds of low toxicity, such as the mercaptans involved in this process. The system was engineered to eliminate fugitive emissions in an ergonomically effective manner for workers. The company has also implemented a biological process (bacteria) to break down sulfur emissions. The company is actively seeking odor complaints, and will continue to perfect the system based on feedback from neighbors.
Toxics reduction
Rohm & Haas has also engineered a methyl chloride reduction system that captures and collects this carcinogenic compound. In the past, unused methyl chloride was vented out the stacks, leading to 40 tons per year of emissions. The new system has a capture efficiency in the high 90 percent range, leading to an annual stack emission of about 6 tons per year (fugitive emissions will add an extra 3 tons per year). Warmer weather is lowering the capture efficiency, and the company is incorporating a chiller to boost efficiency back to the goal of 95% or greater.
Methyl chloride is one of a family of chemicals that are precursors to the formation of smog. In dramatically reducing its toxic emissions, Rohm& Haas is also reducing its contribution to the unhealthy levels of smog in southwest Ohio .
Truck parking
Although the problem of semi-trucks idling for hours outside the plant has dramatically decreased, the problem has not been completely resolved. The company has instituted a procedure for responding to early arrivals, and is still taking responsibility to finally resolve this problem.
BACKGROUND
In April, 2001, Morton/Rohm & Haas in Reading agreed to make changes on the four problem areas neighbors had focused on: chloromethane releases, odors, overnight truck parking and idling, and emergency response.
From April to December, 2001, a working group composed of neighbors, coalition members, plant personnel, and a facilitator met frequently, to address exactly what changes were to be made, establishing timelines, and process of citizen involvement with the company in the future.
During the working group process, Morton/Rohm & Haas identified the following changes to be made:
- Toxics-the company will be installing a cryogenic chiller which will reduce chloromethane air emissions by an estimated 90-95% at a cost of about $500,000. This means about 72,000 pounds less chloromethane released each year into the community, at the most conservative estimate. Plant personnel tell us they hope for even greater reductions.
- Odors-The company is implementing a four point plan: odor source survey by employees; ventilation project; ester project; tackling potential odors from sewers. Total estimated cost is $1.7 million.
- Trucks-Neighbors and the plant manager continue to monitor this with truck logs. Bruce Beiser, plant manager, sent out a number of requests for no local truck parking to suppliers and customers. The average number of trucks is one to two per month, with a few problems experienced in December.
- Emergency response-This will continue to be an area the neighbors and plant folks work on together. The current focus is on shelter in place community education. Fire Chief Kevin Kaiser is very involved on this issue.