Fiberglass is an incredible product. With high tensile strength and stability, low weight, and resistance to heat, chemicals, and fire, few products deliver the versatility that fiberglass does.
From RV and trailer manufacturers who turn to fiberglass for easy maintenance and lightweight body, homeowners who want fire-resistant building products, or someone who needs a stronger, corrosion-resistant storage tank, fiberglass is relied on by millions of people, companies, and more.
Lighter and More Durable, Your Customers Get the Benefit—But You Have to Tackle the Pollutants
But… There’s a downside. No matter how beneficial your products are, you still generate a whole lot of air pollution. Even if your lightweight products reduce fuel consumption for vehicles, even if your industry is responsible for lower heating bills, and even if your products are built on long-lasting design that ensures long-term and corrosion resistance, you’re still answering to the EPA.
Worse, as you already know, with a standardized manufacturing process, there are a lot of specific things the EPA can look for when looking at your emissions outputs.
Whether it’s the well-known pollutants like styrene that is present in both the resins and gel coats, the VOCs that are present in the paints, thinners, solvents, and adhesives you use to make your products, or the vapors that, without proper airflow, can harm your employees, the fiberglass manufacturing process is tightly regulated.
Many Ways to Reduce Air Pollution from Fiberglass Fabrication
While the manufacturing process and EPA regulations surrounding fiberglass fabrication have existed for decades, and the harmful effects of styrene well-known, so are the abatement strategies. From production system design to changes in raw materials to air pollution destruction solutions, here are just a few ways to become compliant and reduce emissions. You might even increase efficiency.
Production and Pre-Production Changes
Though The CMM Group does deliver reliable and efficient solutions to destroy chemicals, this should be your last line of defense. Knowing this, there are many ways to reduce the potential for pollution before you need us too. Among the production system and raw materials changes to consider:
- Switching from open to closed molds
- Combine resin and fiber application with the use of an impregnator system
- Minimize resin use by introducing resin rollers, reduce the potential for air bubbles with vacuum-mold systems
- Introduce robotic fabrication systems or computerized application technology into your process
- Update raw materials, switching to resins and gel coats that contain less styrene, introduce UV-cured or vapor-suppressed resins that have the potential to emit less styrene
- Opt to use low-pressure spray technology or choose non-atomized spray guns to minimize overspray
- Cover solvent containers with floating lids
Pollution Destruction: A Necessity in Fiberglass Fabrication
Even by implementing all of the aforementioned abatement strategies, it’s still a challenge for fiberglass fabrication companies to meet the air pollution standards set by the EPA. However, not all is lost—you don’t have to cut into your profits to destroy pollutants.
With modern machinery and updates to facility design, you can increase the destruction efficiency of air pollution abatement with minimal fuel costs while improving the reliability of your systems.
The CMM Group Specializes in Fiberglass Fabrication Air Pollution Abatement
From boats to RVs, we’ve been a mainstay in delivering air pollution abatement consulting and machinery that increases efficiency and controls costs. Working with companies like yours, we have successfully designed, built, and installed a variety of products that destroy pollutants and cure resins while providing services that allow your facility to operate more efficiently.
Whether it’s the commonly selected Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer or other options such as Thermal Recuperative, Catalytic, or Rotary Concentrator, we have the experience and knowledge to help you select and install the best product for the job.
Success Stories: The CMM Group Destroys Styrene Emissions for Expanding RV Company
Just one example of our success came recently, when we helped this manufacturer of fiberglass recreational vehicle sidewalls to destroy pollutants including styrene after they added a second manufacturing line.
Designed to destroy 98% of the nearly 200 pounds of VOCs generated per hour during the company’s 24 hour per day, 7 days per week production schedule, the CMM RTO was installed to reduce the overall concentration of styrene to less than 50 ppm in the manned resin application booth with a design goal of less than 25 ppm.
Need more reason to trust us? How about these? This fiberglass panel manufacturer utilized the RTO exhaust heat to preheat and supply air to the general production area by using the six make-up air units already in place. This RV Component manufacturer was able to capture heat and apply it to both preheating and the resin booth.
Get to know more about us and contact us for a consultation.
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