p.1 

OAR Box 1313 

Prepped by LaTeia Shed 

Document Number: 

32) ll-B-6 

Docket Number: 

A-88-02 

Printed 6/12/2008 9:03:28 AM Sheet 32 of 99 
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A-88-02 A-88-02 

MIDWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE 

'8*71 Dilf l 7\''*\ 4505 Creedmoor Road 

Raleigh. N.C. 27612 FILE Telephone (919) 781-5750 COPY 

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Date: April 22,^1936 

(Finalized May 9, 1986) 

Subject: Site Visit—Saxonia Franke of America 

Chromium Electroplating NESHAP 

EPA Contract 68-02-3817; ESED Project 85/02a 

MRI Project 7717-K 

From: Randy Stra it/lj 

To: Al Vervaert 

ESED/ISB/SSS (MD-13) 

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency 

Research Triangle Park, N.C. 27711 

I. Purpose 

The purpose of this site visit was to gather background information 

about the chromium electroplating operation at this plant and to determine 

the suitability of this plant for chromium emissions testing. 

II. Place and Date 

Saxonia Franke of America 

Davis Chapel Road 

Post Office Box 3542 

Spartanburg, South Carolina 29304 

(803) 579-3966 

March 13, 1986 

III. Attendees 

Saxonia Franke of America 

Robert M. Kendrick, Vice-President 

U. S. Environmental Protection Aqency 

Al Vervaert, ISB 

Midwest Research Institute 

Randy Strait 

/ 

Principal Laboratories 425 Volker Boulevard, Kansas City. Missouri 6411C 
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IV. Discussion 

We arrived at the plant at 10:00 a.m. The visit consisted of a 

discussion about the hard chromium plating operation and chromium 

emissions capture and control equipment. The discussion was followed by a 

complete tour of the plant. 

A. General 

Saxonia Franke of America is a small captive shop that manufactures 

guides, sinkers, and other flat parts for original equipment manufacturers 

of warp knitting machines. The company also manufactures parts used in 

fuel injection systems and electric fuel pumps for the automotive 

industry. 

B. Process 

The plant was performing chromium plating of warp knitting machine 

guides during our visit. The guides range from 18 to 21 millimeters (mm) 

(0.71 to 0.83 inches [in.]) in length and are less than 1 mm (0.04 in.) in 

width. A hole is stamped in one end of the guides. The size of the hole 

ranges from 0.43 to 1.8 mm (0.02 to 0.70 in.) in diameter. The guides are 

stamped out of wire, tempered with heat, and tumble polished; one end is 

then cast in a bar of solder. The solder bars are placed 1n plating racks 

made of polyvinyl chloride and plated with chromium from 12 to 

20 minutes. After being plated, the guides are rinsed with water, removed 

from the solder bars, tumbled in hot sawdust to remove spots, and tempered 

with heat to remove moisture from under the chromium-plated surface. 

Finally, one end of each guide is plated with tin, and the guides are 

inspected and packed for shipping. 

The plant uses two chromium plating tanks. The plating solutions 

consist of chromic acid (Cr03) in a concentration of 30 ounces per gallon 

(oz/gal) of water. Sulfuric acid (H2S04) is used as a catalyst in a 

concentration of 0.18 to 0.22 oz/gal. A brightener manufactured by M&T 

Chemicals (CR-842) also is added to the plating solution. 

Tank 1 is 213 centimeters (cm) (84 in.) in length, 81 cm (32 in.) in 

width, and 79 cm (31 in.) in depth and contains about 280 gallons (gal) of 

plating solution. Tank 2 is 175 cm (69 in.) in length, 69 cm (27 in.) in 

width, and 76 cm (30 in.) in depth and contains about 250 gal of plating 

solution. During our visit, Tank 1 was being operated at 5 volts (V) and 

8,000 amperes (amps) and Tank 2 at 7.5 V and 6,000 amps. The operating 

temperature of both tanks is about 50°C (120°F). The chromium plating 

facility is operated 5.5 days per week, 8 hours per day, and 50 weeks per 

year. 

C. Emissions Control 

A schematic of the emissions control system for Tanks 1 and 2 is 

presented in Figure 1. Upright draft hoods are installed on the back of 

both tanks to capture chromium emissions. The ventilation rate of the 
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STACK 

LEGEND 

AIRFLOW 

Figure 1. Schematic of the hard chromium plating 

operation at Saxonia Franke of America. 
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hoods is 225 cubic feet per minute per square foot of liquid surface 

area. Emissions from both tanks are ducted to a closed-loop fume scrubber 

system that was manufactured and installed in 1985 by KCH Services, Inc. 

The scrubber is a single packed-bed horizontal-flow unit (model No. H200) 

that is located on the roof of the plant. The design gas flow rate of the 

scrubber is 6,308 actual cubic feet per minute, and the waterflow rate is 

18 gallons per minute. The scrubber water flows by gravity from the 

scrubber to a tank inside the plating facility and is recirculated to wash 

down the scrubber on a continuous basis. City water is used to make up 

evaporation losses from the system. The scrubber is washed down with 

clean water once every 3 months. 

D. Conclusions 

The two chromium plating tanks at this facility appear to have 

effective emission capture and control systems. The KCH scrubber used to 

control emissions at this plant could be a good candidate for testing for 

the following reasons: (1) the unit is representative of the types of 

control equipment used to control chromium emissions from hard chromium 

plating operations, (2) the scrubber system can be tested to determine the 

effect of recirculated water on control device performance, and (3) there 

appears to be adequate duct length at the inlet and outlet of the scrubber 

for test ports. However, due to the type and modest amount of work 

plated, the amount of work needed to complete a test run may be 

unreasonably long. Saxonia Franke personnel were very cooperative during 

the visit, and the information provided will be most useful to the 

chromium study. 

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