2001 Pollution Prevention Award

2001 NCCA POLLUTION PREVENTION AWARD GOES TO
Gentek Building Products of Woodbridge, N.J.

Chicago, IL - Gentek Building Productsof Woodbridge, N.J. was the recipient of the 2001 National Coil Coating Association's (NCCA) Pollution Prevention Award for their Cleaner Ultra-filtration System project. The winning submission was announced at the NCCA Fall Meeting, Oct. 10-12, 2001 at the Westin O'Hare in Rosemont, Ill.

The Pollution Prevention Award was created by NCCA's Government Relations Committee to promote awareness for environmentally responsible initiatives. Judging criteria includes originality/innovation, weight reduction, economics, energy reductions and toxicity reduction/safety.

"The pollution prevention award encourages companies to seek new and better methods of waste minimization and pollution prevention topics," said Robert Mead, chairman, Precoat Metals and NCCA Pollution Prevention Award chairperson. "Participating companies provide a fresh insight on how to do things better."

Gentek Building Products' winning submission was based on their conversion study from an acid cleaner to a BetzDearborn Kleen 4086A alkaline cleaner. Gentek Building Products also installed an ultra filtration unit to filter any overflow from the cleaner stage in order to control water consumption and minimize any virgin chemical that is needlessly overflowed.

The BetzDearborn patented Accutrack control and monitoring system was installed in the wet-section of the coil coating line to improve efficiency and quality of the wet section.

Benefits of this study were shown to be: reduced cleaner costs of approximately 20 percent; more efficient strip cleaning; substantial reduction in water usage and waste water generation; and a 15 percent reduction in the cost of managing the waste system.

"We are very pleased to be able to present our findings on Cleaner Ultra-filtration System to our industry peers," said Bill Vallier, technical manager, Gentek Building Products. "The findings and overall cost saving of the conversion are reason enough for companies to pursue better methods of waste management and pollution prevention."

Gentek Building Products will officially receive their award at NCCA's Annual Meeting, April 13-16, 2002 in San Diego, Calif.

 Award Application (6 Kb)

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