Last week I visited a paint facility that used a drive-through, dry-filter spraybooth. Filtration takes place with only a single filter placed in the wire frame of the booth. On closer examination it was clear that whoever places the filters in the frames is not aware that when gaps occur between the frames overspray can escape through the ducting and enter the atmosphere. Figure 1 shows a close-up of one of many instances where the filter had been poorly placed in the frame. As can be expected, when I pulled the filter from the booth and examined the ducting in the exhaust stack, there was an abundance of overspray. Since some of the coating used includes chromate-containing primers, I was not surprised that the overspray that had settled on the walls had a distinctive yellow color. Chromates are hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and their emission into the atmosphere should be controlled as best possible. Because this facility is not a major source of VOCs or HAPs and is located in a rural area, the spraybooth arrangement is not in violation of any regulation. The facility manager is, however, planning on installing a new paint booth and is willing to upgrade if need be.
展开▼
