AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DIVISION 

Field Inspection Report 

COUNTY NUMBER: 123 SOURCE NUMBER: 0071 DATE: 9/22/97 

COMPANY: Harsh International, Inc. INSPECTOR: Thomas Lovell 

SITE LOCATION: Eaton COUNTY: Weld 

CONTACT PERSON: Orvin Adolf TIME: 

TELEPHONE NUMBER: (970) 454-2291 AIRS UPDATE: 

INSPECTION: ROUTINE[ ] COMPLAINT[ ] FA[ ] STACK TEST [X] PERMIT NUMBER: 

HOURS: PROTOCOL: 1.0 INSPECTION: 6.0 TRAVEL: 4.0 REPORT: 4.0 TOTAL: 15.0 

EMISSION POINTS SUBJECT TO NSPS: 

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On September 22 and 23, 1997, a stack test was performed at the Harsh International facility in Eaton. The units tested 

are the two hard chrome plating tanks at the facility, which exhaust to a common control device. The rectifier capacity of each 

tank is 6000 amps. Based upon the installed rectifier capacity of the facility, it is a large, hard chromium electroplating facility. 

There are also several other tanks on the plating line, used to clean the parts and prepare them for plating. One of these tanks, an 

etching tank, is also hooked up to the control device, a packed bed scrubber. Since this tank is considered an unaffected facility 

for the purpose of the MACT standard, the special compliance provisions of § 63.344 (e)(3) apply. Based upon the procedures 

in the regulation, and the flow measured during the stack testing, the emission standard for this source is 196 mg/hr. 

In addition to the packed bed scrubber, a wetting agent type fume supressant is also used to control chrome emissions. 

A surface tension measurement was taken on both of the tanks during the testing. Each tank has its own inlet duct leading to the 

scrubber, so velocity measurements were necessary in both of the duct. Also pressure drop across the scrubber was monitored 

during the testing. 

The results of the testing are summarized in the table below. 

Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Average 

Stack Flow (dscmm) 280 288 284 284 

Chrome Emissions (mg/dscm) 0.0019 0.0011 0.0018 0.0016 

Chrome Emissions (mg/hr) 31 19 31 27 

Tank #5 Current (amps) 5100 4800 5300 5067 

Tank #6 Current (amps) 5000 4800 5000 4933 

Tank #5 Scrubber Inlet ∆P 

(“H2O) 

0.26 0.30 0.30 0.29 

Tank #6 Scrubber Inlet ∆P 

(“H2O) 

0.25 0.28 0.30 0.28 

Scrubber Press. Drop (“H2O) 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 

The results of the testing show this source to be in compliance with the Chromium MACT standard limit for chromium 

emissions of 196 mg/hr for this source. The surface tension measurement taken during the testing showed the surface tension of 

tank #5 to be 31 dynes/cm, and the surface tension of tank #6 to be 27 dynes/cm. The source should maintain the surface tension 

at or below these levels in the future. Also, the source is required to monitor the velocity in the inlet ducts to the scrubber on a 

daily basis. These values should not deviate more than± 10% for either duct. Therefore the velocity pressure of the duct leading 

from tank #5 should stay between 0.26" and 0.32" H2O, and the velocity from duct #6 should stay between 0.25" and 0.3" H2O. 

The pressure drop across the scrubber also needs to be monitored on a daily basis. This should not vary more than ±1" from the 

value measured during the testing. Thus the pressure drop should remain between 0.5" and 2.5" H2O. Any times that the values 

are outside of these parameters it is considered an exceedance of the standard, and records should be kept of each such 

occurrence.