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16 Apr 2008  -  Brazil

Ara Ashland to eliminate the risk of environmental accidents

During 2007, Ara Ashland – a company resulting from a joint venture entered into in 1999 between the Brazilian Ara Química and the American Ashland – performed a series of improvements on its facilities in Araçariguama, São Paulo, aiming at eliminating any chance of environmental accidents. “To produce causing no harms to the environment is our main concern”, says Luciano Carlini, industrial manager.

Among the main measures, Carlini emphasizes the creation of a new retention basin for unloading bulk liquid raw materials, with capacity for 45 m³. “The trucks stay parked inside the basin during the unloading. Thus, in case of leakages, the product is kept and does not contaminate the soil”, he describes. Concerning the solid wastes, Ara Ashland’s industrial manager refers to the building of a 200 m² dock, in which the materials are stored until their transfer to the industrial waste landfills.

Absorption of styrene steam
Another activity for the benefit of the environment, states Carlini, was the water-resistance of 1000 m² of floors and walls of the retaining basins of the tank station, whether the raw material storage ones as the bulk products. “We have used composites materials made of vinyl ester epoxy resins Hetron and Derakane Momentum (registered trademarks of Ashland) to render impermeability to such areas. Therefore, we once again eliminate any chance of contaminating the soil from leakages”, he says.

Last year, Ara Ashland also decided to make the tanks for mixing styrene processes and storing inert. The action, according to the industrial manager, keeps the vases protected and pressured, reducing significantly the risk of accidents. “We have even implemented a styrene steam absorption system in all the equipments involved in the process, which avoids the releasing of burning gases into the atmosphere”, he concludes.

About Ara Ashland
Ara Química was established in 1995 in Araçariguama city, state of São Paulo. Its plant offers the most modern facilities currently existent for unsaturated polyester resins manufacture, besides having being sized for constant expansions of productive capacity.
Four years after the beginning its activities, Ara Química associated with Ashland Specialty Chemical, branch of Ashland Inc. So Ara Ashland was established, a new company that has aggregated Brazilian market knowledge to the technological resources of the worldwide largest manufacturer of chemical specialties for polyester composites. This merger brought great benefits to national composite industry, because besides keeping the resin production from the usual unsaturated polyester, Ara Ashland began to manufacture specialties for the most sophisticated production processes like RTM, SMC, BMC, pultrusion and continuous filament.

Source : SLEA Comunicação