February 11, 2008—Chrysler is partnering with a major Midwest utility company and university researchers in a project to determine if paint solid residues from automobile manufacturing can reduce emissions of mercury from electric power plants.
For the past year, Chrysler has recycled paint solid residues from its two St. Louis assembly plants for use as an alternative fuel in Ameren Corporation’s nearby 855-megawatt Meramec electric utility plant.
Prior to this project, Chrysler’s St. Louis plants were sending one million pounds of dried paint solids to landfill each year. Now, the paint solids replace about 570 tons of coal per year in the Ameren plant.
The paint solid residues contain titanium dioxide, which has the potential to remove mercury from coal-powered plant emissions without affecting other processes in the plant. Mercury is chemically bonded with titanium oxide, a process known as chemisorption, and thus is potentially easier to trap in the plant’s emissions scrubber system, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have found.
The Meramec power plant is reportedly the first in the nation to generate electricity by burning paint solids recovered from an automotive manufacturing facility. In the initial phase, the project produces enough electricity to power 70 homes for a year.
For information on other Chrysler environmental initiatives, see Chrysler’s Environmental fact sheet page.
