Paint residues transformed into fuel

Paint residues transformed into fuel

New process for converting paint sludge into methanol
Hazardous waste volumes reduced to a fraction

Sindelfingen, Nov 11, 2002 - Since 1990, non-reusable hazardous waste has been reduced by 99 percent, from 8,000 to 84 tons per year, in the DaimlerChrysler plant in Sindelfingen by means of a wide range of technical methods. This reduction in the strain on resources pays off both for the environment and the corporation: the latter saves approx. € 35 million in disposal costs. The most innovative among the different, specially developed methods is the processing of paint sludge into methanol which in turn can be used as a raw material in painting. Paint sludge accounts for some 50 percent of the total hazardous waste volume; today, paint sludge is reused to a degree of 100 percent.

By means of the methanol process, the residues from the paintshops in Mercedes-Benz passenger car production in Sindelfingen are reused. The water-containing paint residues are dehydrated by means of a vapor-fluid process and dried. Apart from water, solvents with a 99 percent degree of purity are separated out. Two cooperation partner press the remaining solid residues into pellets from which synthetic gas is produced. The pure methanol generated from the gas can then be returned as a raw material into the paint process or used as a fuel in fuel cells or combustion engines.

The board member with responsibility for Research, Prof. Klaus-Dieter Vöhringer, presented the Environmental Leadership Award, an in-house DaimlerChrysler prize, to the project team in November 2002. The process has meanwhile also been introduced in other DaimlerChrysler plants in Germany.

Between 1990 and 2001, the non-reusable hazardous waste volumes declined from 19.9 to 0.2 kilograms per unit. In this respect, DaimlerChrysler occupies a top-ranking position in the automotive industry. Since the early nineties, eco-balances have been drawn up for the entire paint process in the Sindelfingen plant and the potential for reuse and raw material recovery has been exploited. With the conversion of paint sludge into methanol, the raw-material cycle is closed. In the reduction of hazardous waste, methanol generation is complemented by different methods of waste preparation for thermal recycling and reuse. In concrete terms, this means, among other things, that copper and nickel are recovered from residues.

Because of the relevance for the region, the public and political authorities have been integrated in the project since the beginning in 1990. The drastic reduction in the hazardous waste volumes by DaimlerChrysler was instrumental in the decision not to build the planned hazardous waste combustion plant in the Böblingen area.

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