1

Subject: FW: Thermafiber Test Report Inquiry

Attachments: RTOdata20070516.pdf; Upset Condition - Email from Shift Foreman 05162007.pdf; Upset Condition - 

Emails between Environmental and Plant Managers 06272007.pdf; Copy of Stack Testing pre 

051607-051807 Notes.pdf

Importance: High

From: Steve Edris [mailto:sedris@thermafiber.com] 

Sent: Friday, May 20, 2011 10:46 AM 

To: Hancy, Cindy Wang 

Cc: Reeves, David; Marinshaw, Richard; Fairchild.Susan@epamail.epa.gov; acrane@naima.org

Subject: RE: Thermafiber Test Report Inquiry 

Importance: High 

Cindy,

With respect to the 2007 engineering stack test performed on Thermafiber’s curing oven RTO, please see the attached files and

our comments below.

1. Reviewed curing oven thermal oxidizer (RTO) data for the date of testing 5/16/2007 and saw no abnormalities except for

a brief 15 minute period late in the day when temperatures dropped from the 1341 deg F average to 1200 deg F.  During

the test time frame, the temperature remained above 1300 deg F.  

2. Reviewed shift foreman email of 5/16/2007 at 2:43pm recapping his shift in which he commented “the urea hose had

came apart in the #2 hoffman blower room, that’s why we were not getting any urea.”  This comment indicates an upset

condition.  

3. Reviewed email exchange between Environmental Manager and Plant Manager on 6/27/2007 indicating “We were

aware of an upset condition in the binder mixing room,” and “There was one FF check on the 16th during the testing; it

was 11%.”  FF stands for free formaldehyde.  These comments indicate an upset condition.  

4. Reviewed Stack Testing Notes recorded on the date of the test 5/16/2007 that indicated “Binder system malfunctioned.  

Had higher resin content than normal due to urea not getting into react batches.  At 6:30am started extra ammonia and

investigating why there was no urea.  Found broken urea line.  Line was immediately repaired.  Manually mixed batches

with urea and transferred to usage tank at 7:15am.”  These comments indicate an upset condition.

We would be happy to discuss this with you, but will be out of the office the rest of today.  If desired, we could talk Monday

morning.  Please let me know if you have time.

Best regards,

Steve Edris

President & CEO

Thermafiber, Inc.

Phone: (260) 563‐2111 ext. 214

Fax: (260) 563‐8979

www.thermafiber.com

Attention:         

The contents of this message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the addressee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. If the reader of the message is not the intended recipient or an

authorized representative of the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, retransmission, or other use of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, notify the

sender immediately by return email and delete the message and any attachments from your system.

 Please consider the environment before printing this e‐mail.
2

From: Hancy, Cindy Wang [mailto:chancy@rti.org] 

Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2011 4:25 PM 

To: Steve Edris 

Cc: Reeves, David; Marinshaw, Richard; Fairchild.Susan@epamail.epa.gov; acrane@naima.org

Subject: Thermafiber Test Report Inquiry 

Steve,  

We are in the process of calculating floors for Mineral Wool and we found a Formaldehyde test performed at Thermafiber’s

curing oven RTO Outlet on May 16, 2007 resulted in high Formaldehyde emissions (1.41 lb/hr, 0.993 lb/hr, and 0.536 lb/hr). We

looked through the text of the report and found nothing that noted an abnormality. All other test results submitted from the

RTO outlet are at about ~0.2 lb/hr. We would like to know if there was anything unusual about the test (i.e., it was not

performed during normal operating conditions) to determine whether or not it should be included in our analysis.  I have not

attached the test report because it was sent as CBI and we are unable to email CBI material. If you have any questions please

feel free to contact me at the number below.    

Regards,

Cindy Wang Hancy

RTI International

P.O. Box 12194

Research Triangle Park, NC 27709

Phone:  (919) 541‐6623

Fax:  (919) 316‐3420
05162007

EPA Rule: None Facility Name:

Report Type: Process Summary Facility Location:

Data Directory: f:\FiltersenseRSV\DLGLOG\RSVAccessDatalog15min.mdb

Report Date: Process:

TagName:

Daily High Reading 1357 deg F Daily Average Reading 1341 deg F

Daily Low Reading 1200 deg F

Daily High Reading 4 "WC Daily Average Reading 3 "WC

Daily Low Reading 0 "WC

Daily High Reading 342 deg F Daily Average Reading 320 deg F

Daily Low Reading 214 deg F

Daily High Reading 384 deg F Daily Average Reading 352 deg F

Daily Low Reading 201 deg F

Section 2 - RTO Inlet Pressure PID Loop PV (RTO\pid3-pv)

Section 3 - RTO Inlet Temperature (RTO\TE407)

Section 4 - RTO Exhaust Temperature (RTO\TE906)

All

Daily Process Analysis Report - 15 Minute Samples

Section 1 - Burner #1 PID Loop PV (RTO\pid1-pv)

Thermafiber

Wabash, IN

May 15, 2007 RTO

1100

1150

1200

1250

1300

1350

1400

Burner #1 PID Loop PV (deg F)

0

1

1

2

2

3

3

4

4

5

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

Thermafiber, Inc. RTOdata20070516 (3).xlsx Page 1 of 4
05162007

Daily High Reading 375 deg F Daily Average Reading 360 deg F

Daily Low Reading 321 deg F

Daily High Reading 340 deg F Daily Average Reading 323 deg F

Daily Low Reading 277 deg F

Daily High Reading 1351 deg F Daily Average Reading 1336 deg F

Daily Low Reading 1196 deg F

Daily High Reading 46 % Daily Average Reading 43 %

Daily Low Reading 0 %

Section 7 - Combustion Chamber Temperature (RTO\TISHH-302)

Section 8 - Main Fan CV Output % (RTO\PID-3-CVR)

Section 5 - Chamber #1 Lower Bed Temperature (RTO\TE910)

Section 6 - Chamber #2 Lower Bed Temperature (RTO\TE912)

290

300

310

320

330

340

350

360

370

380

High Low

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

High Low

1100

1150

1200

1250

1300

1350

1400

High Low

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

40.0

45.0

50.0

High Low

Thermafiber, Inc. RTOdata20070516 (3).xlsx Page 2 of 4
05162007

TIME RTO\pid1-pv RTO\pid3-pvRTO\te407 RTO\te906RTO\te910RTO\te912 RTO\TISHH-302 RTO\PID3-CVR

0:01 1348 3 323 346 365 328 1344 45.0

0:15 1351 3 322 362 363 327 1344 45.0

0:30 1339 3 321 353 362 326 1335 45.0

0:45 1348 3 321 347 361 325 1342 45.0

0:59 1341 3 320 367 361 324 1335 44.0

1:14 1343 4 319 342 360 323 1341 42.0

1:29 1345 3 320 367 359 323 1337 45.0

1:43 1341 3 319 350 359 322 1337 44.0

1:58 1353 3 319 345 358 322 1349 45.0

2:13 1337 3 319 366 359 322 1330 44.0

2:27 1345 4 319 343 359 321 1343 41.0

2:42 1348 3 319 364 358 321 1342 45.0

2:56 1337 3 319 352 359 321 1333 44.0

3:11 1354 3 319 344 358 321 1348 45.0

3:26 1337 3 319 365 358 321 1330 44.0

3:40 1344 4 319 341 358 321 1340 40.0

3:55 1350 3 319 365 358 321 1345 45.0

4:10 1338 3 318 346 359 320 1334 44.0

4:24 1348 3 318 346 358 320 1341 45.0

4:39 1340 3 318 363 358 320 1334 44.0

4:54 1349 3 318 340 358 320 1347 44.0

5:08 1343 3 317 367 357 320 1336 45.0

5:23 1337 3 317 346 357 319 1332 44.0

5:38 1356 3 317 344 356 319 1351 45.0

5:52 1336 3 317 363 356 319 1329 44.0

6:07 1344 3 317 339 356 319 1340 44.0

6:22 1347 3 317 367 356 319 1340 45.0

6:36 1340 3 317 347 357 319 1335 44.0

6:51 1354 3 317 346 356 319 1348 45.0

7:06 1331 3 311 363 356 318 1325 44.0

7:20 1342 3 318 339 356 318 1339 44.0

7:35 1352 3 320 365 356 319 1345 45.0

7:50 1343 3 321 346 357 320 1339 44.0

8:04 1353 3 322 347 358 321 1348 45.0

8:19 1336 3 323 365 359 322 1330 44.0

8:33 1345 3 323 343 360 323 1342 41.0

8:48 1346 3 324 366 360 324 1340 45.0

9:03 1337 3 324 349 361 325 1333 44.0

9:17 1352 3 323 346 360 325 1346 45.0

9:32 1336 3 318 365 360 324 1330 45.0

9:47 1345 3 318 340 359 323 1343 44.0

10:01 1346 3 319 370 358 323 1339 46.0

10:16 1339 3 319 349 358 323 1334 45.0

10:31 1354 3 320 348 358 323 1348 45.0

10:45 1335 3 322 364 359 324 1329 45.0

11:00 1344 3 328 344 360 326 1340 44.0

11:14 1352 3 330 370 362 328 1347 45.0

11:29 1339 3 330 355 365 330 1334 44.0

11:44 1350 3 330 355 365 331 1343 45.0

11:58 1337 3 331 371 367 332 1330 44.0

12:13 1346 3 332 349 367 333 1342 44.0

12:28 1349 3 332 377 368 333 1342 45.0

12:42 1340 3 332 356 369 333 1335 44.0

12:57 1352 3 332 356 368 334 1346 45.0

13:12 1336 3 334 368 369 334 1329 44.0

13:26 1346 3 334 350 369 335 1342 44.0

13:41 1345 3 335 379 370 335 1338 45.0

13:56 1339 3 336 357 371 335 1334 44.0

14:10 1352 3 341 363 372 337 1345 45.0

14:25 1339 3 342 376 374 339 1332 44.0

14:40 1345 3 339 355 375 340 1341 44.0

14:54 1343 3 335 384 374 339 1336 45.0

15:09 1341 3 334 357 373 338 1336 44.0

15:24 1357 3 334 361 372 337 1350 44.0

15:38 1339 3 333 368 372 336 1333 44.0

15:53 1349 3 330 346 371 335 1344 44.0

16:08 1339 3 326 379 368 333 1331 43.0

16:22 1340 3 324 346 366 330 1335 44.0

16:37 1351 3 323 354 364 328 1344 44.0

16:52 1337 3 321 355 362 326 1330 43.0

17:06 1350 3 319 342 360 325 1344 44.0

17:21 1343 4 318 378 359 323 1335 41.0

17:36 1341 3 318 343 358 322 1336 43.0

17:50 1351 3 318 348 358 321 1343 44.0

18:05 1250 0 217 238 347 308 1247 0.0

18:20 1200 0 214 201 334 292 1196 0.0

18:34 1286 3 290 341 321 277 1268 44.0

18:49 1336 3 301 321 329 286 1332 43.0

19:04 1355 3 301 341 336 294 1348 44.0

19:18 1339 3 303 340 340 299 1333 43.0

19:33 1347 3 305 331 343 302 1342 44.0

19:48 1343 3 305 365 345 305 1335 43.0

20:02 1349 4 314 334 348 307 1345 43.0

END OF REPORT

Thermafiber, Inc. RTOdata20070516 (3).xlsx Page 3 of 4
05162007

20:17 1343 3 318 363 351 311 1335 44.0

20:32 1333 3 324 350 356 315 1329 44.0

20:46 1355 3 327 350 360 319 1349 44.0

21:01 1341 3 330 374 363 323 1334 44.0

21:16 1343 3 331 348 366 326 1339 43.0

21:30 1353 3 333 372 367 328 1346 45.0

21:45 1338 3 331 359 369 330 1333 44.0

22:00 1351 3 327 350 368 329 1346 44.0

22:14 1340 3 322 372 367 327 1334 44.0

22:29 1342 4 319 343 364 324 1339 42.0

22:43 1343 3 316 364 361 321 1336 44.0

22:58 1342 3 314 348 360 319 1338 43.0

23:13 1351 3 314 344 357 317 1346 44.0

Thermafiber, Inc. RTOdata20070516 (3).xlsx Page 4 of 4
5/20/2011 8:55 AM at 8:55 AM

1

Steve Edris

From: Carl Steele

Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 2:43 PM

To: Alan Siepker; Amy ODonnell; Austin Hess; Cori Groninger; Dan Wakefield; Eric Ryder; Fred 

Layne; Garry Mulkey; Gary Cooper; Heath Clark; Jason Parrett; Jay Parrett; John Hight; John 

Hight; Kevin Thompson; Kim Driscoll; Michael Castro; Steve Edris

Subject: Shift Summary's

# 2 The cupola ran fair , the urea hose had came apart in the #2 hoffman blower room , that’s why we were not getting 

any urea. We had a plug up on the turning belts due to # 9 belt coming off. The screen is not staying clean at all , we have 

washed it about 7 times.we kept the windbox and rollers blown out, the high resin binder is making the rollers build up.We 

had 2.37 tons of side piece throw away. 

# 4 The cupola has ran fair today with no major problems 

We did not change any bags today 
5/20/2011 8:59 AM at 8:59 AM

1

Steve Edris

From: Dan Wakefield

Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 5:09 PM

To: Eric Ryder

Subject: RE: Stack test data

There was one FF check on the 16th during the testing; it was 11%. 

Daniel Wakefield

Environmental Manager

Thermafiber, Inc.

3711 Mill Street

Wabash, Indiana 46992

Phone: 260-563-2111 Ext. 226

Fax: 260-569-9253

E-mail: dwakefield@thermafiber.com

From: Eric Ryder 

Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 11:02 AM 

To: Dan Wakefield 

Subject: RE: Stack test data

Check with Jay on records for the period. We were aware of an upset condition in the binder mixing room. We should 

have something on file. 

Eric Ryder 

Plant Manager 

Thermafiber 

Phone: (260) 563-2111 x293 

Fax: (260) 563-7022 

Email: eryder@thermafiber.com

From: Dan Wakefield 

Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 11:00 AM 

To: Eric Ryder 

Subject: RE: Stack test data

Free formaldehyde samples on mixed binder during the test period were not taken. It would have been a good idea for our 

use. IDEM requires data on free formaldehyde from the latest resin shipment used which was 7.3%. 

Daniel Wakefield

Environmental Manager

Thermafiber, Inc.

3711 Mill Street

Wabash, Indiana 46992

Phone: 260-563-2111 Ext. 226

Fax: 260-569-9253

E-mail: dwakefield@thermafiber.com

From: Eric Ryder 

Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 10:42 AM 

To: Dan Wakefield 

Subject: RE: Stack test data

Can you add binder free formaldehyde results. 

Eric Ryder 
5/20/2011 8:59 AM at 8:59 AM

2

Plant Manager 

Thermafiber 

Phone: (260) 563-2111 x293 

Fax: (260) 563-7022 

Email: eryder@thermafiber.com

From: Dan Wakefield 

Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 9:56 AM 

To: Eric Ryder 

Subject: Stack test data

I believe you wanted this info. 

Daniel Wakefield

Environmental Manager

Thermafiber, Inc.

3711 Mill Street

Wabash, Indiana 46992

Phone: 260-563-2111 Ext. 226

Fax: 260-569-9253

E-mail: dwakefield@thermafiber.com
Thermafiber Curing Oven RTO Stack Testing 5/16/07

Test 1

Start Stop Tons/Hr

Time Time Melted Binder retention 3.32%

8:35am 9:30am 7.23 Binder flow 7.6 GPM

103% of max melt rate

Test 2

Start Stop Tons/Hr Binder retention 4.06%

Time Time Melted Binder flow 7.8 GPM

9:55am 10:50am 7.23 103% of max melt rate

Test 3

Start Stop Tons/Hr Binder retention 3.07%

Time Time Melted Binder flow 7.6 GPM

11:10am 12:05pm 7.02 100.28% of max melt rate

Binder system malfunctioned. Had higher resin content than normal due

to urea not getting into react batches. At 6:30am started extra ammonia and

investigating why there was no urea. Found broken urea line. Line was 

immediately repaired. Manually mixed batches with urea and transferred to

usage tank at 7:15am.

Avg binder retention for the period was 3.48%

Avg binder flow for period was 7.66 GPM

Avg RTO temperature was 1320 degrees