MEMORANDUM

TO: 304m Record, EPA-HQ-OW-2015-0665

FROM: Dan-Tam Nguyen, ERG

DATE: February 1, 2016

SUBJECT: Summary of Metal Finishing Facilities and Vendors Contacted During 

Preliminary Study Activities in 2015

In the Final 2014 Effluent Guidelines Program Plan, EPA announced plans to conduct a 

preliminary study of the Metal Finishing Category to assess the current state of the industry, 

including process technologies and techniques, wastewater treatment technologies, and waste 

minimization strategies to reduce the amount of wastewater and solids that need to be disposed. 

This study extends EPA’s efforts beyond the annual screening level review process under Clean 

Water Act (CWA) §304(m). 

As part of the preliminary study, EPA is gathering existing information, including 

information from treatment technology vendors and metal finishing facility contacts. This 

memorandum summarizes the vendors and facilities that ERG contacted in support of EPA’s 

data collection activities in 2015. Information collected from vendor and facility contacts

contributed to multiple study objectives: 1) identify potential candidates for EPA site visits, 2) 

gain industry perspective on the existing 1983 Metal Finishing ELGs, 3) understand current 

metal finishing operations and wastewater treatment practices, and 4) generally assess the 

technical and economic feasibility of waste minimization practices.

ERG conducted a focused search of facilities based on public Metal Finishing directories 

and EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Pollution Prevention (P2) database, and prioritized 

facilities to call based on publicly available information on the facilities’ metal finishing 

operations and wastewater management practices. ERG reached out to over 20 metal finishing 

facilities and successfully coordinated discussions between EPA and five metal finishing 

facilities, which are listed in Table 1. 

ERG also reviewed publicly available information to identify approximately 15 

technology vendors that may have implemented waste minimization technologies at metal 

finishing facilities. Table 2 lists the three vendors with which EPA had discussions on 

technologies used to minimize wastewater generation and/or discharge at metal finishing 

facilities. General findings based on these conversations are discussed in the “Preliminary Study 

of the Metal Finishing Category: 2015 Status Report” (EPA-821-R-16-004, EPA-HQ-OW-2015-

0665. DCN MF00001).
Memorandum

February 1, 2016

Page 2

Table 1. List of Metal Finishing Facilities Contacted

Facility Name Facility Location Website

Contact 

Date

Huntington Plating, Inc. Huntington, WV http://www.huntingtonplating.com/ 03/05/2015

Neo Industries, LLC Weirton, WV http://www.neodelivers.com/ 04/08/2015

American Trim, LLC Wapakoneta, OH http://www.amtrim.com/ 04/17/2015

AAA Industrial Chromium Co. Fort Worth, TX http://www.aaaswis.com/ 04/08/2015

Poly Plating, Inc. Chicoppee, MA http://www.poly-ond.com/ 04/23/2015

Table 2. List of Waste Minimization Technology Vendors Contacted

Vendor Name Technology Website

Contact 

Date

Aquas Group

Process integration of treatment 

technologies for wastewater recycle/reuse

http://www.aquasgroup.com/03/05/2015

Mech-Chem

Diffusion dialysis/acid recovery; process 

design and integration

http://www.mech-chem.com/ 03/03/2015

Cleaner Phosphoric Recycling 

(CPR) Systems, a division of T. 

George Podell & Co Inc.

Cleaner Phosphoric Recycling (CPR) 

system

http://www.cprsystemsonline

.com/index.html

03/26/2015