CASE STUDY:
SAVING AM POWDER WITH TESTING AND BLENDING
For the additive printing of an aerospace antenna, we developed a method to test and blend additive materials, which enables us to save up to 47% of additive manufacturing powder (this means 0 kg of powder waste) compared to the cycle counting method currently used by the industry for such parts.
CONVERTING POWDER FROM SCRAP BITS
At our site in Montana, US, we take drill bits from customers in the oil & gas sector, strip out the binder material and reclaim the tungsten carbide for use in powders and then resell the powders. Every year, we process 500 000 to 600 000 pounds of bits in Montana.
From 2018 to 2021, we sold 689 000 pounds of powder that contained some portion of reclaim material from Montana. Revenue generated from this is approximately USD 12.63 million. The drill bits that are not bought from the customer remain their property.
REPLACING CHEMICAL CLEANING AGENT TO REDUCE HAZARDOUS WASTE
In 2021, the team at the Oerlikon Textile Machinery facility in Wuxi, China, chose steam as a safer and more environmentally sound alternative to replace the 205 chemical agent, which had been used to clean oil from machine parts – including the middle strip, cam and inner pipe – prior to welding. The 205 chemical cleaner was a strong candidate for replacement because of its volatility and toxicity, which presents health risks and environmental harm. In addition, the local government has strict requirements for the discharge of chemical agents, and all hazardous waste must be recycled and treated by special environmental protection companies. The steam alternative eliminates both the environmental impact of the cleaning process and the need to dispose of hazardous waste. The project officially started in December 2020. For 2021, the process upgrade resulted in a cleaning agent cost saving of RMB 66 500 and savings in work hours equivalent to RMB 14 800, which brought the total savings achieved over the course of the year to RMB 82 300 (CHF ~12 000). The team plans to follow this initial success with further projects to reduce environmental harm, decrease hazardous waste and protect employees’ safety and wellbeing.
REDUCING WASTEWATER BY RECYCLING
Although our water consumption is low, we have implemented at many sites systems to recycle water. In India, we are using the Antech Gutling filtration system to recycle water for effluent treatment plants (ETP) and a local system for sewage treatment plants (STP). The recycled water is then used for gardening. In China, we use evaporator systems to reduce disposal water, thus reducing disposal treatment services and costs.
In the US and Mexico, wastewater in coating centers goes into an evaporator and evaporates into the atmosphere. Presently, we are working on designing a system to reclaim the discharged wastewater, reclean and reuse it for non-critical operations. In Europe, we adopt a mix of all the different treatments from vaporization to wastewater management.
