Case Study: MEGTEC/American & Efird

American & Efird Inc. is one of the world's foremost manufacturers of sewing threads for industrial and consumer markets. The company has manufacturing operations in Mount Holly, N.C., and Dongmei, China. Its products are distributed in more than 50 countries.

Driving this global reach is a commitment to conducting manufacturing operations with a keen eye on environmental stewardship. It was this approach that helped put the company in the position of being the benchmark against which VOC destruction rates for the textile industry were established in the state of North Carolina.

A&E installed its first thermal oxidizer, a 7,000 scfm thermal electron recuperative unit, in 1996. The unit performed well, delivering a VOC destruction rate of about 95 percent. Three years later, the company planned to increase production capacity but was faced with two key challenges. First, the existing recuperative oxidizer would not be able to handle the higher volume of process solvents that would result from additional coating machines. And second, A&E wanted to achieve a higher rate of VOC destruction.

Another consideration was the need to ensure the new VOC control system would allow increasing production capacity beyond what was planned for the initial expansion.