Environmental Progress - Winter 2000

Environmental Management:
A New Perspective

Fuji-Hunt Photographic Chemicals, Inc.

Rolling Meadows

Fuji-Hunt manufactures processing chemicals for all types of silver halide imaging systems, such as x-ray, color film, and graphic art pre-press systems, on an eight-acre plant site in Rolling Meadows. It achieved certification to ISO 14001 in 1997, one of the earliest companies to achieve that status. Their parent company, Fujifilm, strongly encouraged all its facilities to become certified, an unusual move for a company that is not associated with the American auto industry (a strong driver of its suppliers toward ISO certification).

Fuji-Hunt had been concerned about its impacts on the environment and has implemented numerous “beyond compliance” projects to lessen their impacts. Among them, they:

1. re-designed the plant effluent pH neutralization system for more efficient pH control of process washwater,
2. installed two dust collectors for powder processing equipment,
3. installed a dust collector for the powder granulator operations,
4. installed a venturi air scrubber for the liquid mixing operations.

Cesar Garcia, lead operator in the powders department at Fuji Hunt, attaches a ventilation hose from the dust collector vent system to the "knockout pot." The pot diverts powder from dust collectors so it can be recycled.

In summer 1999, Fuji-Hunt participated in Illinois EPA’s graduate internship program to look for pollution prevention opportunities in the areas of waste powder generation and wastewater generation. The intern, Aysun Cakan from the Illinois Institute of Technology, did the initial research and experimentation and Fuji-Hunt has been developing designs to implement her ideas.

One idea involved the powder packing areas, where several different chemicals are vacuum-packed in layers to prevent reactivity before customer mixing. Screening powders at critical points of the collections system was suggested before mixing all fugitive powders captured by filter bags. Critical powder collections allow captured powder to be directly reused back into the process with virgin material. Reusing the powder could result in a powder waste reduction of more than 15 tons per year and an annual savings of approximately $29,000.

The other idea focused on cooling water. The average non-contact cooling water consumption for the facility was determined to be 11,000 gallons per day with an annual usage of five million gallons. The intern determined that reusing cooling water currently discharged after a single pass through the reactor cooling jackets could reduce water usage. Spent cooling water was proposed for storage and use for process cleaning to reduce wastewater generation by four million gallons. The potential cost savings were estimated to be $16,000 annually.

In addition to the Illinois facility, Fuji-Hunt is looking into product stewardship improvements at the corporate level, moving them well beyond compliance.