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Environmental Enlightenment #092 |
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Here's the latest edition of Environmental Enlightenment - a SHORT, LIGHT and SIMPLE environmental newsletter. Its purpose is to inform and educate. The online version can be viewed at: If you do not want to receive further mailings from Ami Adini & Associates, unsubscribe now by scrolling to the bottom of this email and clicking on the unsubscribe link.
Discharge of Solvents in Drycleaning Operations(The information in this newsletter has been gleaned from an EPA sponsored site http://www.drycleancoalition.org and enhanced with pictures obtained from the Web.) Although much of the drycleaning solvent being used today is delivered via closed-loop systems, historically drycleaning solvent has been delivered in drums and by tank trucks.
Some drycleaning wholesale supply facilities receive solvent deliveries via railroad tank cars.
Numerous instances of solvent discharges, associated with these deliveries, have been documented including:
Due primarily to the industry conversion to more efficient drycleaning machines, PCE use by drycleaners in the United States has dramatically declined. A recent survey found that PCE use by drycleaners in the United States in 2001 was 52 million pounds compared to 260 million pounds used in 1985. PCE use has been reduced by 72% by drycleaners in the last ten years. Since today's fourth and fifth generation drycleaning machines are more efficient, they use much less solvent and therefore, much less solvent is stored at drycleaning facilities. Most facilities store drycleaning solvent in the tanks located at the base of the drycleaning machine.
In the past, additional solvent was often stored in tanks, primarily aboveground storage tanks (ASTs) for PCE and both aboveground and underground storage tanks (USTs) for petroleum solvents. There have been solvent discharges associated with these storage tanks from leaks (valves, flowlines and tanks) and from spills (during both tank filling and solvent withdrawal).
A study of reported solvent leaks, spills and discharges at 334 drycleaning facilities and 14 drycleaning wholesale supply facilities located in Florida found that the largest average solvent spill volumes were associated with solvent transfer and storage. Approximately 20.9% of the solvent and solvent-contaminated waste discharges reported in the Florida study were due to equipment operation problems including still boilovers, clothing caught in the machine door, loose cartridge filter housings, overflow of water separator, and open valves. The largest number of reported spills/discharges (39.2%) were associated with equipment failure, including leaking gaskets, seals, valves, ruptured hoses, failed couplings, and equipment corrosion.
The Florida study found that 13.8% of the reported solvent/solvent waste discharges were associated with drycleaning machine/equipment maintenance. This includes spills associated with filter changes, still cleanouts, servicing of the solvent pump and button trap cleanouts.
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