KCH Mist Eliminators Reduce Chrome Emissions to Meet EPA Regulations
KCH is not only an innovator of safer, more effective emission-control products, but an advocate for its customers when trying to decipher complicated and ever-changing government regulations. One of the most heavily regulated emissions is chromium, which is used in many metal finishing processes to increase durability and hardness of a metal, or simply to decorate it with a smooth, often reflective finish.
One of the byproducts of chrome plating is Hexavalent Chromium or Cr(VI), which is classified as an confirmed human carcinogen by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). It has been regulated by the USEPA since 1993 due to the risk of long-term exposure by staff involved in chromium processes.
Long before OSHA began regulating emissions from processes like hard chrome plating, decorative chrome plating, and chromic acid anodizing, KCH was designing emissions control systems for applications involving chromium. Since 1979, we had successfully developed and tested a variety of scrubbers for the elimination of chromium emissions, including packed bed scrubbers, chevron baffle mist eliminators, and centrifugal moisture extractors for controlling such emissions.
Yet no solution worked as well as the Composite Mesh Pad System (CMP), one of the most efficient means of controlling chromium emissions available to this day. KCH was one of the first pollution control companies to use the CMP technique, which used a series of pads within a mist eliminator to reduce chrome emissions. The development of the CMP unit was a critical step leading up to the 1996 establishment of the Maximum Achievable Technology (MACT) standards for chrome emission control, which KCH worked closely with the USEPA to develop.
As chromium emissions became stricter, in the form of eight increasingly tighter emissions allowances published between 1993 and 2014, KCH developed additional technologies to supplement the already-efficient CMP Systems. One such development was the Highest Efficiency Particulate (HEPA) filter system, which could be fitted onto current CMP systems. While the CMP system by itself had a removal efficiency of over 99%, the HEPA system used in conjunction with the CMP system offered removal efficiency of 99.999% of chromium particles of .1 micron or greater, among the most efficient and affordable on the market.
