Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer in the Electronics Manufacturer Industry

Trinity Air Technologies De Mexico, S.A. de C.V. (Kemet Corporation) is an electronics manufacturer headquartered in the United States. This "greenfield" manufacturing facility was constructed to produce capacitors used in virtually every type of electronic apparatus.

This facility, like many manufacturing operations that use coatings, solvents and plastics compounds, generates Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) which, when evaporated and released to the atmosphere, cause a depletion of the earth's protective ozone layer. In the U.S., the 1990 Clean Air Act set limits on the amount of uncontrolled air polluting emissions from industrial processes. Even though Mexico only requires that emissions be reported and has no regulations concerning capture and destruction/disposal of VOC's, Kemet initiated this project in order to provide a cleaner, safer working environment for their employees and their neighbors.

<%=company%> and Trinity Contractors, Inc. provided and installed the VOC emissions abatement system. The process exhaust from the thirty-five (35) sources in the North Manufacturing Room and from the twenty-seven (27) sources in the South Manufacturing Room are conveyed through the duct system to the 30,000 SCFM DUAL-BED regenerative thermal oxidizer. Seventy-five percent of the solvent mix is toluene and the Trinity RTO is guaranteed to destroy a minimum of 98% of the captured VOC mix.

Control of the system is automatically maintained by an Allen-Bradley Programmable Logic Controller. This state-of-the-art control system allows great flexibility in the operation and maintenance of the system from day-to-day operations through routine maintenance and troubleshooting. This project received the "Excellence in Construction" award in the Public Works/Environmental Category from North Texas Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors.