Shaw's Energy Conversion Project to Save Money, Reduce Waste
08.05.2004
Dalton, GA - Shaw Industries has embarked on an innovative and ambitious project that will convert carpet and wood manufacturing waste to steam energy through a process called gasification. The results of this venture will reduce manufacturing byproducts destined for the landfill, produce lower plant emissions, and eventually save up to 2.5 million dollars per year at the company's Springdale Plant. Gary Nichols, the Shaw energy manager who heads up the project, reports that the concept for the project has been in the works for more than three years. "This is really a bold undertaking for the company," he says. "We've never done anything like this before, although it is something Shaw has been considering for a long time. In the past three to four years energy costs and technology have come together at the right time to make this a viable project." In the conversion process, manufacturing carpet waste and post-consumer carpet waste, as well as wood flour (dust generated from trimming during laminate manufacturing), are turned into steam which will be used to power the operations of the Springdale plant. Developed in cooperation with Siemens Building Technologies, the gasification facility is projected to be fully operational by the end of 2005. Bill Barron, Shaw vice president of manufacturing, says the project is estimated to convert approximately 16,000 tons of combined post-industrial and post-consumer carpet waste, and 6000 tons of wood flour per year. "This represents a huge savings in terms of landfill reduction and energy costs," he says. "In addition, this initiative is extremely environmentally friendly in the cleaner emissions that will result, particularly the tremendous reduction in sulfur dioxide (SO2 )." The company is studying ways to use the remaining waste by-products, such as recovered post-consumer filler, that result from the conversion process. Carpet wastes are baled and sent to a grinder to separate the fiber from the filler, and the fiber is used in the gasification process. Another by-product is the ash produced through gasification. Nichols and his team are optimistic they will find a use for these materials in other manufacturing operations. According to Steve Bradfield, Shaw director of corporate environmental affairs, the gasification facility is a transitional strategy in Shaw's cradle-to-cradle commitment to the future. "It is Shaw's hope that sustainable technologies will make future carpet wastes ideal for closed-loop recycling into carpet or other products too valuable to burn," Bradfield says. "Meanwhile, gasification offers a high-value, low environmental impact means of collecting and utilizing carpet and wood waste."
