Environmental awareness with GREEN NDT
How can PFINDER NDT consumables reduce the environmental impact?
An important driving force behind all new and further developments at PFINDER NDT is always to reduce the impact on the environment during production and product useage. And this with the same or even improved technical performance.
Consumables for magnetic particle or penetrant testing are mixtures of different ingredients. Possible environmental effects of the consumables result from the properties of the individual ingredients used. By consciously selecting raw materials, it is therefore often possible to develop a product that has little or no impact on the environment.
All information on this can be found in the safety data sheet, which is created for each product and is available to every user. The most important information is also available on the product label in the form of pictograms and information sentences.
Approaches for more environmental protection with PFINDER NDT
There are many ways to reduce the environmental impact of a testing process. The experts at PFINDER NDT know what is important and reduce the environmental impact of testing processes with suitable product solutions. PFINDER NDT's many years of experience show amazing potential in areas such as
- Avoidance of hazardous waste
- Saving primary energy
- Reduction of water consumption
- Reduction of CO₂ emissions
- Reduction of VOC emissions
PFINDER NDT stands for "THINKING AHEAD SINCE 1884." - Find out how our GREEN NDT expertise can improve your processes as well.
Example biodegradability
Waste water is generated due to the excess penetrant removal step during the penetrant testing process. In series testing processes, this can be many 1000 liters per day. If a readily biodegradable penetrant from PFINDER NDT is used (and the wastewater has not been further contaminated), it can usually be discharged into the sewage system without any pre-treatment.
The official approval required for this procedure has been granted almost without exception in numerous cases in recent years. By using ecological penetrants, investment and running costs can be significantly reduced.
At the same time, it is an active contribution to reducing harmful effects on the environment. If the wastewater cannot be discharged into the sewage system (due to the use of conventional penetrants), wastewater treatment processes must be used. These and their negative effects on the environment are:
- Activated carbon filtration: High energy demand in production and hazardous waste treatment.
- Ultrafiltration: High energy demand during treatment (> 20KWh per m3 wastewater)
- Evaporator: Very high energy demand during treatment (> 60KWh per m3 of wastewater).
- Precipitation: High costs due to special coagulation additives
On the other hand, discharging the waste water containing penetrant into the sewage system means
- Minimal process costs
- Stable process conditions
- Best possible environmental balance
- Only moderately increased water consumption due to multiple use of the process water
In a direct comparison based on CO2 equivalents, indirect discharge is more environmentally friendly by a factor of 20 to 60, depending on the wastewater treatment method.
The experts at PFINDER NDT will be happy to calculate the exact savings for your process.
Example CO₂ reduction
For PFINDER NDT, a key approach to actively reducing CO₂ emissions is to advise customers on application techniques that avoid or reduce the use of aerosol cans.
The packaging form of the aerosol can alone causes CO₂ emissions to be 3.5 times higher compared to packaged goods (e.g. 10 L canisters). Special application technologies can make it possible to avoid the use of aerosol cans. Naturally with the same results and the highest quality. Application technology might restrict the mobility of the testing process, so it is necessary to examine whether this is a practicable solution depending on the test situation.
If avoiding or reducing the use of aerosol cans is excluded due to the test situation, compensation remains as the third best option.
In cooperation with "atmosfair", a NGO based in Bonn / Germany, PFINDER NDT is working to reduce the climate-damaging consequences of NDT consumables. Offsetting does not change the actual sources of CO₂ emissions. However, it is a way to minimize the impact on the environment. By supporting global climate protection projects, the emissions caused by the use of aerosol cans are offset.