ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
May
23,
1972
CRANE PACKING COMPANY
(MORTON GROVE PLANT)
v.
)
PCB 72—131
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
CRANE PACKING COMPANY
(CRYSTAL
LAKE
PLANT)
v.
)
PCB 72—132
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
)
OPINION OF THE BOARD
(by Mr~Kissel):
Crane Packing Company
(“Crane”) manufactures various sealing
devices at its facilities in Morton Grove
and Crystal Lake.
The
manufacture
of such sealing devices involves
the extensive use of
asbestos.
Crane seeks
a variance until October
31,
1972,
from
Rules
202,
501,
502
and 504 of the Board’s recently adopted Asbestos
Emission Regulations,
R 71-16.
The compliance date under the Rugu-
lations
for Crane’s operation
is June
30,
1972.
Crane seeks the
delay
in order to install
a fabric dust collector at each of the
plants.
Upon receipt of the variance petitions,
the Board ordered the
Agency to file its recommendation within twenty-one days
and scheduled
hearings
on both petitions, pending receipt of the Agency’s recommen-
dation and any public comments.
No public comment was received;
the
Agency recommended that the petition be granted subject
to certain
conditions; Crane indicated its willingness
to abide by the conditions
which the Agency sought
to impose.
Crane’s Morton Grove plant produces mechanical packings used
in the manufacture of various pumps,
compressors, valves and fittings.
The plant employs approximately 100 people and sales exceed $4,000,000
annually~
Eighty per cent of the packings manufactured at Morton
Grove contain asbestos, either in fiber,
float, or yarn
form.
Crane
uses over 8,100 pounds of asbestos
per week
at this plant.
Use is
confined to three areas of the plant:
(1)
the haxnmermill room;
(2)
the mixing-dipping room;
and
(3)
the braiding-extruding-pressing
room.
In the hammermill room,
asbestos fiber is broken down into
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—
565
separate fibers; these are then blown through a duct into a cyclone
collector on the factory roof for further fluffing.
The
bulk of the
fibers
settle to the bottom of the collector and fall into a sealed
container,
Excess air from the collector is discharged through a
filter screen
into the ambient
air,
The hainmermill is operated once
weekly for
3 to
5
hours,
Should the need arise,
it
may
be operated
more often, but generally for
a shorter
period
of
time.
The hammer—
mill operation presently results in the visible emission of asbestos
fibers from the collector, most likely in excess of the two fibers
per cubic centimeter of air in the Illinois standard,
Crane
is now
installing
a different fiber screen in the collector in order to
reduce or eliminate emissions in violation of Rule
501,
Crane
is
also investigating the feasibility of abandoning the hammerraill
operation,
The Agency on-site investigation on April
12,
1972 dis-
closed that
a Littleford Brothers mixer,
intended to perform the
functions of the hammermill, had been delivered, but not installed,
The mixing—dipping room contains several mixing machines and
deep vats.
The mixing p~ocess forms
a malleable solid material capable
of being further treated in the braiding room,
Any asbestos fibers
emitted in the mixing process are drawn into a duct attached to the
maching and thence to
another
cyclone collector on the roof,
About
3,100 pounds of asbestos material is processed each week through the
mixing machines,
There
are no visible emissions from this second
cyclone collector, though Crane
is concerned that its emissions may
exceed
the numerical Illinois standard.
In the braiding
room, asbestos
yarn is braided with any of
several other materials,
Asbestos
is emitted from the braiding opera-
tion
and
is directed to
a third cyclone collector on the roof,
About
5,000 pounds
of asbestos material is processed through the braiding
operation each week,
Though no visible emissions emanate from this
collector, Crane
is concerned that these emissions too may violate
the
numerical
standard,
On March 30,
1972, Crane placed an order for
a fabric dust
collector which
is capable of
filtering out particles in excess of
two microns in size.
The control system
will
also contain a new
series of ducts which will transmit the air back into the filtering
unit,
rather than venting to the ambient air as at present,
Air from
the mixing-dipping and braiding room
will
similarly
be vented to the
new collector, with the persent collectors being abandoned~ Cost
of
the installation is about $22,000,
Crane asks that its
variance
con-
tinue
until
October
31,
1972; delivery of the new equipment
will take
approximately 12 to 16 weeks with installation consuming another
4 to
6 weeks.
On that schedule, installation should be completed in Sep-
tember,
1972,
Crane
indicates that it will then need a period of
time
in which to accomplish de-bugging operations.
4
—
566
For
the Morton Grove plant, the Agency recommended that the
variance be granted to August
17, 1972 subject to certain conditions,
including submission
of
a monthly progress
report,
conducting a stack
test
for emissions
from the
fabric dust collector, obtaining the
necessary
permit
from the Agency,
and
the posting of
a performance
bond
in
an
appropriate
amount
to
insure
compliance.
Crane’s
Crystal
Lake
plant
produces
molded
rings
(“wasters”)
for
use
in
seals
in
automatic
pumps.
This
plant
employs
about
42
people
and
has
a
yearly
sales
volume
in
excess
of
$4,000,000.
The
washers
include
asbestos,
in
the
form
of
asbestos
floats,
as
a com-
ponent material,
About 2,500 pounds of such floats are used each
week.
The manufacturing process occurs as
follows:
the various raw
materials,
including asbestos and resin, are mixed
in
a dry form;
this
mixture
is
run
through
heated
rollers
so
as
to
form
a
hard
sheet;
the
sheets
are
then
crushed
into
granulate
form;
the
granulates
are
turned
into
a
powder
which
is
formed,
through
pressing,
into
small
pellets.
These
mixing,
milling
and
granulating
processes
may
pro-
duce
some emissions into
the
atmosphere of the enclosed room where
the
operations
occur.
The air from the room is drawn through
.a
series of ducts which are connected to a wet scrubber,.
After passing
through the scrubber,
the
air is vented to the atmosphere.
Though
~
visib:Le emissions emanate from the ~ient,Crane
is concerned that
its
asbestos
fibers
may
violate
the
State’s
numerical
standard
of
twc
fibers
per
cubic
centimeter
of
air,
Crane
has
ordered
an
installation
similar
to
that
proposed
at
the
Morton
Grove
plant
for
Crystal
Lake
and
contemplates
a
similar
construction schedule.
~Cost of the installation approximates $26,000~
The
Agency has recommended that the variance be granted upon the same
conditions as
it
asks imposed
on
the Morton Grove operation.
In a
letter
to
the
Board,
Crane
has
indicated
its
acceptance
of
such
con-
ditions.
To
deny
this
variance would be to impose several significant
hardships
upon
a
petitioner
who
has
acted
in
good
faith,
Soon after
the
passage of the Asbestos Regulations, Crane sought means
to bring
its operations
into compliance with the June
30,
1972 deadline for
manufacturing processes.
It has already entered a purchase order
for
a
new
fabric dust collector which it anticipates will bring it into
compliance with the Board’s standards~~New duct work will also be
necessary to assure the efficiency of
the
collector,
as
well as pro-
vide
a means for gas sampling as the regulations require
(Rule
502).
4
—
667
The Morton Grove
and
Crystal Lake operations employ over 140 people
and
provide
a variety of sealant products to various U.S.
industries..
The varinace which Crane seeks is for a short period of time and is
the first the Board has received regarding the new rules governing
the manufacture of asbestos-containing products.
Agency inspection
of Crane’s operations indicated a good housekeeping and a basically
clean operation.
The Agency has recommended that the variance only extend to
August 17, 1972.
Crane indicates that it will need until October
31,
1972 to complete de-bugging, eventhough installation will be completed,
at the latest, in September.
Crane’s request for this short period
sha~lbe granted.
For the period of the variance, however, Crane
shall not exceed its normal operating conditions.
Crane shall post a
performance bond or such similar security in the amount of $48,000,
which is the sum of
the
pollution improvements which Crane intends
to install under this variance.
The variance is, therefore, granted subject
to the
conditions
as set forth in the order
issued May 17,
1972.
I, Christan Moffett, Clerk
of the Pollution Co~trolBoard, cer-
tify that the .~boveOpinion
was
adopted on this
~.3ff~a0f
May,
1972,
by
a vote of
‘V—O
4
—
568