30/06/2021

Cleaner and Greener – A Case Study

Project Outline

The Issue Stowlin were recently invited to review the pre- treatment process of an established casting company in the Midlands. The customer was utilising a 5-stage immersion chemical pre-treatment process and found that their chosen chemistry was attacking the heater elements, causing them to fail. Numerous heaters of different metallurgy were tried, but the problem persisted. The lack of temperature meant that the baths were failing to achieve the correct processing parameters, meaning that the paint failed to adhere correctly to the substrate.

Project Objective – Change Process

The objective was to allow correct pre- treatment of the castings without costly plant modifications whilst also providing a green and safe alternative.The chemistry employed at the time of the heater failure was a highly concentrated sulphuric acid, followed by two water rinse tanks, and a chromate conversion coating. A final water rinse followed before component drying and powder coating. This was very aggressive and posed health and safety risks to operators.

Project Solution – Clean and Green

To meet the customers exact requirements, Stowlin specified Henkels New Generation Technology pre-treatment chemicals.

Clean – BONDERITE C-NE 90200

BONDERITE C-NE 90200 is a neutral cleaner with key benefits that include:

• Operates at a lower temperature enhancing efforts to achieve reduce costly energy bills
• Operates at almost pH neutral
• Operates at low concentration in the tanks
• Creates less sludge
• Requires less waste disposal and less plant downtime

Green – BONDERITE M-NT 41040

BONDERITE M-NT 41040 was specified as the conversion coating which reduced operating costs for the customer. With the system fully capable of operating at ambient temperatures, the benefits extend to sustainability and a reduction in their heating bills. This one element alone has proven very popular for customers as we are all being asked to reduce our emissions, with the UK targeting a 78% reduction by 2035. Stow-floccWith the new cleaner and greener pre-treatment system in operation, the customer also wanted to move away from costly effluent disposal, which they previously had to cater for with the chromate system that was utilised. Stowlin’s Technical team looked at the application and suggested the versatile 2-3 stage Stow-flocc effluent treatment system. This provided the process and customer with a fully compliant discharge to drain, eliminating most of their disposal costs.

Contact us

For more information, please contact the Stowlin sales team on 0116 278 5373.

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