Background Report Reference

AP-42 Section Number: 12.20

Background Chapter: 4

Reference Number: 54

Title: Air Pollution Potential from Electroplating Operations

Diamond, P.

Environmental Health Laboratory

April 1969

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A I R P O L L U T I O N P O T E N T I A L F R O M E L E C T R O - P L A T I N G O P E R A T I O N S

P h i l i p D i a m o n d

E n v i r o n m e n t a 1 Hea I t h L a b o r a t o r y M c C l e l l a n A i r F o r c e B a s e , C a l i f o r n i a

A p r i l 1969

DISTRIBUTED BY:

National Technical Information Service U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield Va. 22151

a RAOIAN LIBRARY DURHAM, N, C.

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AIR POLLUTION POTENTIAL FR0.M EI.ECTKOPLATING OPERATIONS

BY

Philip Diamond

U S A F EWVIROMMEWTAL HEALTH LABORATORY McCLELLAN AFB, C A . 95652

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USAF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH LABORATORY ' McClel!an Ai:: F o r c e Base , California

AIR POLLUTION POTENTIAL FROM ELECTROPLATING OPERATUNS

Report No. 69M-15 (Project No. E68-63)

April 1969

Prepared by:

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Industrial Hygienist

Reviewed by: Approved by:

FRANCIS S. ShZITH Colonel. USAF, BSC Commander Chief, Bio-Environmental

Engineering Division

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.Mcasurcments w e r e inadc of e m i s s i o n r a t e s f r o m electroplat ing operat ions considered t o have .maximum e i r pollution potential. Sampling w a s pcrfornied at McC:.ellan and additional da ta from a pr.evious s u r v e y at I I i l l A i r F o r c o Base \vas used. Values obtained were e x t r c l r e l y 1 om. Based on exisling F c d c r a l s tandards , no col lec tors &re spccifica:ly required for electroplating emissions. Experience of State and inaiustry a i r po!lution personnel, how..;cr. indicates that c h r o m c plating and s t r m g caus t ic emiss ions do r e q u i r e col lectors .

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ELECTROPLATING AIR POLLUTION EhlISSIONS

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U n c l a s s i l i d srcurity Clrrsifir.,ion

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SECTION

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III

IV

V

VI

TABLES

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APPENDIX

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Procedures

Results

Discussion

Conclueione & Recommendations

References

LIST O F TABLES

Tank Surface Samples

Duct Effluent Samples

Chapter IV A i r Pollution Control

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SECTION I

INTRODUCTION

A s suggested in Hq AFLC (MCDPE) le t te r , 7 November 1968. a sampling study was undertaken to define the air pollution potential f r o m electroplating operations. Manual published by the USEHEW (Ref. 1 ) def ines the air pollution problem f rom electroplating a5 fGllow.9: “Most of the electrolytic plating and cleaning p r o c e s s e , a r e of l i t t l e in te res t f r o m a standpoint of air pollution because the emiss ions a r e inoffensive and of negligible volume, owing to low gassing r a t e s . General ly , a i r pollution control equipment is not requi red f o r any of these p rocesses except the chrcs- ,,_--___ - . .~_I . - - - mium plating pr,’c~‘?-~.s:_~Chromit a.cid_mjst .emissions.have.causedi .. ~ ~.

pF5lcms by ;p.otlil!g.-?g_Car finishes-in-the~ vicinity-.of_disch_argeduc~trr2 - ‘:Ev%gthough .theyconcentrations_ar~e. .~-. .. r.elatively.low,~.they-may s t i l l - b x ~ .-. .

‘;high enougilto_c~s-t-pio_perty d a 6 Z g . a

A Los Angeles County Engineering

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M r . Schuman of the State of Michigan, Department of Health (Rel’. 2 ) indicated that a col lector is mandatory, based 011 his experience f o r chromic acid and alkal i m i s t s . that he f ee l s the alkal i control requi rement applies only to concent r i ted alkal i emiss ions . concentrated sodium hydroxide bath.

in a personal discussion he indicated

H e meniioned. ior example, a 10 percent o r m o r e

The direct ion provided by USAF (AFOCE) l t r , 9 Dec 66, Tables 11 and 12, a r e based on a now obsc.iete K e w York State Guide. been modificd to the stafilte shown in Appendix I. {‘‘Environmental-.;

This has

i ~ ~ ~ r i ~ b ” - o f d r ^ ” B - B ~ d - C “ ; s d e f i n e _ d _ ~ ~ ~ ~ a ~ l ~ l _ o f . A p p e n d i x . . I . a r e ~ u s u a l l y . f.aa-s_igEmd_.to_alrras. sur.r:ounding.p~ting shops according to I. Ki-lm (N. Y. State Plans Kevlew Er.gineer). and col lectors a r e not normal>, requi red for piating d ischarqes .

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Emiss ion figLres f o r plating 0peratior.s w e r e not found in the l i t e r a tu re surveyed (Ref. 3 , 4, and 5; and contact with HEW, the Detroit Bureau of Industr ia l Hygiene. 2nd New ‘fork State engineers disclosed that they w e r e not a w a r e of qua3titative information available on plating d ischarge levels. equipment manufac turers . They general ly repor t collector efficiency f igures hut do r.ot indicate contar;lir.ant levels before and af te r s c rub - bing.

No emission infcr-nation was available f r o m coi.iro1

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SECTIGN I1

PROCEDURES

The plating ar,d p r o c e s s tanks w e r e se lec ted for sampling on the b a s i s of t he fol1owir.g c r i t e r i a :

1. A sui table and access ib l e sarrpl ing location was necessa ry . A s t ra ight run of duct away f r o m elbows or constr ic t ions and not r e - quir ing ocaffolding was a minimum requirement .

2. Highest potent ia l emiss ion r a t e s w e r e ant ic ipated (Ref. 6), based on e m i s s i o a tab les published originally by New York State.

3. Plating. s t r ipping, or cleaning operat ions w e r e in p r o g r e s s in the tank during sampling.

4. E i t h e r a noticeable odor , i r r i t a t ion , or visible contaminant was perceived.

- 5. After select ing tanks which m e t most of the c r i t e r i a outlined above, a ~ i ~ t r a v ~ w a s . m a d e ~ a t ~ a p p . r p p r i a t e _ a n r l ~ a c c e s s i b l e _ l c . c a . t ~ . o ~ ~ in t he duct a s far f r o m a becd o r cbstruct ion a s possible. T h e sampling p rocedure used was descr i i ied by R. W. Sexton (Ref . 7 ) . <The-point-o€,

i a v e r a g L v A o u y was used to losate_the sampling_pr.ob.e_tip and iZZEiSt-5 F m p l l n g was i x r f o r m e ? by adjusting the c o r r e c t prec;l ibrated pump sampling ra te . facing into air s t r e a m ) in seri :s with a n impinger containing 125 m l of appropr i a t e sampl ing solution was used to col lect samples .

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A 1/4" I. 1). pyrex probe with a 90" bend (opcning

Distilled wa:er was wsed fo r sampling ac ids and b a s e s and 0. ; N NaOH for cyanide sampling. and su r face sampling f o r HCIU. washed and added to impingrr contents a f t e r sampling. sampling t ime of 10 minutes was used. If ventilation was inadequate, o r p rope r sampling locat ions w e r e not ava i l rb le , s amples w e r e taken above the tank liquid s u r f a c e a t a height of 10 - 15 inches above the ?omt of maximum plating o r s t r ipping activity (as shown by bubble evol u.ion - ' or p a r t s placement) .

M. S.A. tubes w e r e used f o r NO, lesting The probe contents were careful ly

A minimum

SECTlON 111

RESULTS

Resul t s a r e summar ized in Tables I and I1 below and brackr tcd

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valuds w e r e samples taker: aocve the s l m e tank

TABLE :

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Opcra t ian Base* Contaminant Concentrat ion -- Si lver S t r ike

Silver Plat ing

Cadmium PlatinE

Cadmium B a r r e l Piat ing

Cadmium Stripping

Sulphur ic A nod iz ing

Hard C h r o m e Plati.:g

Hard C n r o m e Plating

Hard C h r o m e Placing

Hard C h r o m e Plat ing

Hard Chrome Plat ing

M ,HCN

M HCN

M HCN

hi HCN

M NO,

M H, SO,

H C rO,=

H CrO,'

H CrO,'

H cro,'

-- OM - McClcllarl A T 3

H - H i l l AFR

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SECTION 1v

DISCUSSiOX

Tank su r face samples fo r c h r o n i c ac id w e r e taken a t Hill A i r F o r c e B a s e in an indus t r ia l hygiene cu rv ry per formed in F e b r u a r y 1967. O u r T e t i a ' l T u r p o s e -~ 2 in taki:.;: t h e s e par t icu lar s amples was to-provide-an-indication-of-the-quantity of-chroinic a'c i d m i s t escaping X&-th%-atmosphere-ar.d-provideedata-for . c o m p a r i s o n .-. -. with- .er i .s t ing~ Q$~r_ma~io~i-Ventilation i i L & va r i ed f r o m 8 5 - 400 cfm/ft'; ~

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_- .- The:-tio$ of tlie c h r o m e plating tanks at McClAlan AFB

ave raged only-85 cfm-/ffi> and t h e r e s u l t s of duct sampling a re shown in Tab le 11. Ventilatio:i was poor ly dis t r ibutdd on these tanks. and t h e r e s u l t s of s u r f a c e samples taken f o r CrO, concentrat ion ranged f r o m 0.13 t o 10.0 mgm/m3.

Si lver plating and cadmium plating tanks are ci ted in the l i t e r a tu re (Ref . 6) as re leas ing no contaminants to l h e a tmosphere . Sampling d i r ec t ly above t h e s e cyanide baths , w e were unable t o obtain concen- t r a t ions of HCN above 12 ppm.

Cadmium str ipping was pe r io rmed with ammonium n i t r a t e , and we w e r e unable t o find any NO, o r NH, at the su r face of the tank during the operation.

Resu l t s of sampl ; 5 taken d i r ec t ly above the sulphuric ac id anodizing tcnk with anodizing in p r o g r e s s w e r e negalive f o r sulphuric acid.

T h e ~ h ' r ~ i ~ i ~ ~ d ~ ~ s a m p l e d had two exhaust ducts , - . _ _ _ _ _

and the t o t a l ~ O ~ - ~ e m i t t e d amounted t cO.10 pounds ,. This value was s i g n i f i c a n t l ; , ~ ~ ~ e r t h ; i l i t h ~ C r O J __ e m ~ a - s i ~ - f r ~ ~ - t h ~ - c ~ ~ ~ m . e -- -

T h e only HCl tank in the plating shop that appeared t o give off noxious fumes was t h e one in the cadmium a r e a contai:iing 50 - 55 p rccen t by volume HC1 where ar. emiss ion r a t e of 0.57 pounds pe r hour w a s fol:nd.

T!ie g r e a t e s t emis s ion of any contaminant obtained in t h e ducts s a m p h d was 0.76 pounds of NaOH p e r hour f r o m the s i l ve r s t r ipping operation. Even th i s value i s considerably below the New York Sta te p e r m i s s i b l e l imi t of 10 pounds per hour.

Nickel plating involves no m a j o r health problems, and m o s t baths

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c a n he opera ted without ventilation ( R e f . 81. should r e s u l t from nickel plating.

No a i r pollution r r o b l e m s

W e recognize that t h e r e a re a number o f p a r i a b l e s which 'nave affected the r e s u l t s obtained. and they m u s t b e taken into considerat ion if the r e s u l t s a re to b e npplied t o a new installation, i. e . , t he

\venfi.lZ'fi5KZfXieXs;) f rceboa r d , curT ent-density ; c.r .osdZLf6 57 e- up-a i rT t t c . & I - i h G n c e n t r a t i o n s t o be exFectnd :md the i r re la t ive insignificance f r o m a n air pollution standpoint.

- However, t h e r e s ~ l t s d o indicate the o r d e r of magnitude

SECTiON V

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIOKS

1. hydroxide, or dilute sodium hydroxide with high c u r r e n t dens i t ies ) a r e gene raEy cons idered below i c v t l s which c a n const i tute an a i r pollution p r c h l a m from e i ther a legal, aes the t ic , or heal th standpoint.

2 . a l m o s t a l l the plating and cleaning p r o c e s s e s investigated.

3. re la t iveiy high concentrat ion of s t rong caus t ic discharged.

4.

Plat ing d i scha rges (exce7t lor chromic ac id , concentrated sodium

Resu l t s indicate tha t the air pollution potential is negligible for

A s c r u b b e r i s recommended for s i lve r s t r ipping because of ;he

B z a u s e -of -t h e-ca-rrspotCiligTSZiltiTf K c h r omic ac~~did~s~&a-rg~~ ra-coWeTfor c__ _---~'-- is recommended_on_chr.omi.c_a.cid ~piating.and.chromic.aci@ { a n - o c l i z i m

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SECTION VI

REFER E NC ES i:

!i , I . A i r Pollution Engineering Manual. A i r Pollution Control Distri- t . .' .I ..

County of Los Angelzs: complied and edlied by John A . Danielson, 1967.

2 . A i r Kngineering (7 Jn ly 1968). Vol 10, No. 7.

M. Schunan , "Deeigning Ventilation for Electroplat ing Plants."

- 3. (Winter 1965 - 1966). Vol 11. NO. 2.

"Hazards in t h e Plating Industry. '' Michigan 's Occupational Health

4. A i r Eng inwr ing (Apr i l 1959).

5. Heating, Piping and Ai r Conditlining (September 1950).

D. Moore and 1. W. Dyer. "New Way to Collect Plat ing Fumes , 11

"New Ventilation Design Cools Plat ing, Heat T rea t ing Plant ,"

6 . Indus t r ia l Ventilation. Amer ichn Conference of Governmental Indus t r ia l Hygienists, 9th Ed. Tables 5-5-5, 6. -

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7. Repr in t No. 270-PB. Amer ican A i r Filter Company.

R. W. Sexton, "Stack Sampling of Chcmica l mists a n a Vapors , ' '

. . 8. Occupational Health (Winter 1965-06). Vol. 11, No. 2.

L. E. Vager. "Hazards in the Plat ing Industry," Michigan's - -- : I

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Appendix 1

Chapter IV A i r Pollution Control

New York State Public Health Law

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LHAP~ER N AIR POLLUTION CONTROL 5 1873

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