Catalytic Oxidizer Posts

There was some wicked weather overnight where I live. With over six inches of rain, many of the streets around my house were flooded. 

Keeping your air pollution control equipment properly maintained is essential for meeting regulatory requirements and efficient operation. Here on the CPI blog, we regularly share tips on maintaining your systems, and today we're taking a closer look at the importance of monthly maintenance.  

Chocolate chip cookies are one of my favorite treats. Butter, sugar, eggs, flour, vanilla, and, of course, chocolate chips. Combine the ingredients together and you get a delicious cookie. Somehow, using the same ingredients the cookies do not always turn out the same. Sometimes they are thinner and crispier. Other times, they are soft and chewy. After watching cooking shows, I have come to understand there are many factors that determine the final product. Conditions like freshness of ingredients, temperature of butter and cooking time can affect how your cookies turn out. Similarly, there are a wide range of conditions that may occur during the air pollution control application process that affect the recommended technology solution. 

Memories are a funny thing. Walking into a bakery the other day sent me back in time. I thought of growing up in Chicago, walking to school on a beautiful Spring day, and experiencing the smells of all sorts of wonderful things as I got close to the local bakery. Every once in a while, I would stopped in and treated myself to a fresh chocolate chip and custard Danish, which of course I had to go to the bakery this morning to and get some (ok, two) so I could provide you with this delicious image: 

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are pre-cursors to Ozone pollution and subject to EPA regulations. Thermal and catalytic oxidizers are routinely used to destroy VOC emissions from a variety of industrial sources. 

In our recent blog, "What's the Best Air Pollution Control Technology for My Process?",  we examined the many factors that can impact a facility's choice of air pollution control equipment. When they are considering their air pollution control needs, it is important for the plant's engineering staff to discuss the application data with potential suppliers. This data will provide crucial details about the process operation, including as uptime, maximum VOC loading, and maximum air flow. With this data, the supplier will be able to predict energy usage, permitted emission rates, and other process operation data that may be critical to equipment design, and with this knowledge, they will be able to recommend options that meet the requirements for Best Available Control Technology (BACT) or Maximum Available Control Technology (MACT), ensuring that the facility's engineering staff will be able to meet or exceed their environmental goals or outcomes.  

Internet research and shopping has risen substantially over the past five years, and it will only continue to grow. Searching for a pizza place? Easy. You can customize and define your search by including “Chicago Style,” “Deep Dish,” or maybe “Gluten Free.” This will narrow down the results, helping you find what you asked for. This is a simple process, because you know exactly what you are looking for. You pick a restaurant, order your pizza, and maybe even write a review to help other shoppers find the perfect place to eat.   Don’t get me wrong – the internet is fantastic! It is, however, limited to responding to the search terms that we input. 

Recently, I have been doing some small home repairs/improvements. Planning on a bathroom remodel next spring, I purchased a new vanity/sink along with flooring. Thanks to Hammy, the Houdini of hamsters, I started the project early. Of course, as happens so often when working on projects at home, one thing leads to another, and my bathroom remodeling project is now larger than originally planned. After completing the unexpected electrical repair and replacing the drywall, I got my handy wet/dry shop vac out from the garage to do some “quick” clean up. Everything was going great until I realized that the entire basement was now clouded over with drywall dust. I had not checked to see if the filter was in place before I started to vacuum up the drywall dust.

When it comes to air pollution control, understanding the technology that is available is a complicated endeavor, but this knowledge is necessary for complying with environmental regulations. At Catalytic Products International, we are experts in the systems used to control volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), and we want to help you understand how you can use these oxidizers for VOC control and to meet all your air pollution control needs.

There are 5 basic, distinct types of oxidizers used for VOC control. Let's look at each of them, along with some simple guidelines to point you in direction of the correct oxidizer for your process.