p.1 

OAR Box 1814 

Prepped by Ollie Stewart 

Document Number: 

35) ll-B-13 

Docket Number: 

A-88-02 

Printed 11/7/2008 7:22:07 AM Sheet 35 of 63 
P.2 

^ 

-K-K-K A-88-02 

MIDWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE 

4505 Creedmoor Road 

Raleigh. NC 2761.: 

Telephone (919) 781-575C 

Date: October 21, 1986 

(Finalized March 4, 1987) 

Subject: Site Visit—Reliable Plating Works 

Chromium Electroplating NESHAP 

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

MRI Project 7717-K 

From: Randy Strait./'.V 

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 visit was to determine the suitability of the 

plant for chromium emissions testing to assess the effectiveness of a fume 

suppressant to inhibit misting from a decorative chromium plating bath. 

II. Place and Date 

Reliable Plating Works 

5230 South 13th Street 

Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53221 

(414) 271-5731 

September 4, 1986 

III. Attendees 

Reliable Plating Works 

Jeff Smith, Chemist 

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

Al Vervaert, ISB 

Midwest Research Institute 

Randy Strait 

/ 
P.3 

IV. Discussion 

We arrived at the plant at 1:30 p.m. The visit consisted of a tour 

of the plating shop and a discussion about the decorative chromium plating 

operation and possible emission testing to assess the effectiveness of a 

fume suppressant used to control misting from the decorative chromium 

plating bath. 

A. General 

The Reliable Plating Works plant visited 1s a job shop that performs 

decorative plating of paper towel fixtures, exercise equipment, and tubing 

products. The shop operates 16 hours per day, 5 days per week, and 

52 weeks per year. Annual chromic acid consumption 1s about 544 kilograms 

(1,200 pounds). The company also operates a decorative plating job shop 

at 644 South 5th Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53204. 

B. Process Information 

There is one decorative chromium plating line at this plant. The 

U n e 1s equipped with three automatic hoists that transfer each rack of 

parts through a series of tanks. Seventeen racks of parts are plated per 

hour. The plating line consists of the following tanks in series: 

1. M1ld caustic soap with sodium hydroxide; 

2. Hot caustic with reverse current applied; 

3. Water rinse; 

4. Acid pickle with 240 grams per liter (g/a) (32 ounces per gallon 

[oz/gal]) of sulfuric acid (H2 S04 ); 

5. Water rinse; 

6. Hot caustic with reverse current applied; 

8! Acid dip with 90 g/a (12 oz/gal) of H2S0„; 

9. Water rinse; 

10. Bright nickel plate with 52 g/a (7 oz/gal) of nickel (two tanks); 

11. Water rinse (two tanks); 

12. Acid dip with 15 g/a (2 oz/gal) of chromic acid (Cr03); 

13. Chromium plate with 270 to 285 g/a (36 to 38 oz/gal) of Cr03; 

14. Water rinse (five tanks); and 

15. Dryer (one tank). 

The chromium plating tank is 3.0 meters (m) (10 feet [ft]) long, 

0.9 m (3 ft) wide, and 2.4 m (8 ft) deep and contains about 6,060 liters 

(1,600 gallons) of plating solution. The plating tank holds one rack at a 

time, and the plating time per rack is 80 seconds. The tank 1s equipped 

with a transformer/rectifier that automatically adjusts the amount of 

current applied based on the current density. Each rack first 1s plated 

for 10 seconds at 11 volts and from 6,000 to 8,000 amperes and then for 

70 seconds at 8 volts and 5,200 amperes. 

The decorative plating bath is supplied by M&T Chemicals 

(M&T-283). The bath contains chromic ad d 1n a concentration ranging from 

270 to 285 g/a (36 to 38 oz/gal) of plating solution and a sulfuric acid 
P.4 

and fluoride catalyst. The normal operating temperature of the bath is 

44°C (112°F) 

C. Emissions Control 

The plant adds a chemical fume suppressant to the plating solution 

to reduce chromic acid misting from the bath. The fume suppressant, M&T 

Fumetrol 205, is supplied by M&T Chemicals. The fume suppressant provides 

a foam blanket over the surface of the bath and contains a fluorinated 

wetting agent that reduces the surface tension of the bath. From 3 to 

4 days would be needed to deplete the fume suppressant totally from the 

plating bath. 

The chromium plating tank is equipped with a push-pull ventilation 

system installed on the ends of the tank. The push side consists of a 

pipe that is about 5 centimeters (cm) (2 inches [1n.]) 1n diameter and 

0.9 m (3 ft) long and contains 18 holes that are each spaced about 0.5 cm 

(2 1n.) apart. Air is pushed across the length of the tank to a hood. 

The pull side hood 1s 0.9 m (3 ft) wide and 1.2 m (4 ft) high and contains 

four rows of slots with four slots per row. The pull side is vented to a 

vertical flow packed-bed scrubber manufactured by Aerovent, 

Incorporated. The gas flow rate of the scrubber is about 850 cubic meters 

per minute (30,000 cubic feet per minute). An atmospheric evaporator is 

used to reclaim chromic acid from the water rinse tanks following the 

chromium plating tank. The evaporator exhaust also 1s vented to the 

packed-bed scrubber. 

D. Conclusions 

The plant is a job shop that performs decorative chromium plating of 

towel fixtures, exercise equipment, and tubing products. Emissions from 

the chromium plating tank are controlled by a fume suppressant and a 

packed-bed scrubber. There were no visible emissions from the chromium 

plating tank during the visit. 

Emissions testing of the fume suppressant at this plant is not 

recommended because the ductwork configuration between the ventilation 

hood and scrubber will not allow for the location of a test port that will 

meet the minimum conditions for testing, which require the test port to be 

located at least two duct diameters downstream and 0.5 duct diameters 

upstream of the nearest flow disturbance. There only is about 0.9 m 

(3 ft) of straight ductwork, and the ductwork 1s rectangular in shape and 

tapered, which will not allow for uniform gas flow distribution. 

Reliable Plating Works personnel were very cooperative during the 

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

study.