Benton Foundry is a casting house committed to environmental initiatives and ensures eco-friendly casting operations through various additions and improvements. Our facility does not have steam plumes nor smoke stacks, and all of our cooling systems are either closed-loop poly-glycol cooled systems or air-cooled systems. There is no discharge water from our operations.

An example of our commitment is the reconfiguration of all control points to ensure that all products of combustion are consolidated into one collector, while the other collectors are used for polishing and re-circulating the air. This system upgrade included the addition of a dust collector with an airflow of 120,000 CFM, featuring a 500HP Baldor Super E (Energy Efficient) motor with a variable frequency drive and a broken bag detector operating off of magnahelics. During the winter months, the system recirculates the tempered, clean air back into the facility through prefilters and HEPA filters. This air is used for heating purposes, as well as, reducing the negative pressure in the facility. In the summer months, the warm air is directed outside. In addition to the environmental benefits of this system, the pouring deck is remarkable for its lack of smoke. This tempered, clean working environment also results in a six figure heating cost reduction that, in effect, pays for the system.

The second phase of this project included another dust collector featuring a 200HP Baldor Super E motor, variable frequency drive, broken bag detection and a lime injection system to increase the life of the bags. This dust collector has a flow rate of 60,000 CFM and is used to collect products of combustion from the furnaces, pre-heaters and sand systems. The products of combustion are filtered prior to discharge. This voluntary initiative reduced the discharge levels on the new collectors to the BACT (Best Achievable Control Technology) Levels of less than 0.005 grains/SCF. This was a cooperative effort between Benton Foundry and PA DEP to permit Benton’s five-year expansion plan under one permit.  The result was a voluntary 67% reduction in emissions.

Over ninety-eight percent (by weight) of all “waste” leaving our facility is either recycled or beneficially reused.

Benton Foundry has been in continuous operation since the mid 1800′s and rests in a rural setting on over 200 acres of land 5 miles outside the town of Benton, PA.

 

ADDITIONAL GREEN PROJECTS

• Taking a “mass balance” approach to material selection under the thinking that if we can use environmentally benign products in our process, then we do no harm.
• Partnering with CES (Customized Energy Solutions) and participating in their Emergency Load Response Program and Synchronous Reserve Program reduces power consumption during stressful periods within the PJM electrical grid. This approach reduces our consumption, thereby reducing cost and our environmental impact.  Thus we recognize our corporate responsibility in times of stress and need.
• Adopting customized energy solutions software for electrical Demand Control and Demand Response efforts. This initiative has considerably reduced our power consumption. Our capacity transmission charge has been reduced by over 2,500KW. This is a savings to the PJM grid as well as to Benton Foundry.
• Adopting the exclusive use of super efficient motors throughout the facility to minimize electricity consumption. Although we realize that the motors may be slightly more expensive, they will pay for themselves many times over.
• Maintaining a Beneficial Reuse Permit for our residual waste.
• Recycling wood, cardboard, plastic, aluminum and other scrap metals.
• Implementing the use of causticized lignite in our sand system to reduce our carbon footprint.
• Adoption of LED lighting, harvesting of outside light and motion sensors.