Ford factory processes paint fumes to generate power

OAKVILLE, ONTARIO - One Ford factory in Oakville, Canada has created an innovative process to capture harmful gases from their vehicle-painting facility and safely turn the fumes to electricity.

The paint fumes contain volatile organic compounds which act as greenhouse gases and pollutants. Typically, these gases would be incinerated, which while better than leaving the VOCÂ’s alone, still produces excessive amounts of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide.

Ford has developed a much cleaner process to dispose of the gases.

FordÂ’s system converts the gases into fuel then fed through a molten carbonate fuel cell to produce about 300 kWh of electricity-about what it takes to power 100 homes. The process reduces carbon emissions by 88 percent and eliminates nitrogen oxides entirely.

“The Oakville stationary fuel-cell system is the first of its kind worldwide to harvest emissions from an automotive facility,” said Matthew Daraskavich, the paint-systems engineer at the factory. “Fumes-to-fuel has the potential to significantly reduce manufacturing’s emissions in an environmentally sustainable process. It is very exciting in terms of its potential future applications to manufacturing.”

Related News

empty space

Experiment Shows We Can Actually Generate Electricity From The Night Sky

LONDON - There's a stark contrast between the freezing temperatures of space and the relatively balmy atmosphere of Earth, and that contrast could help generate electricity, scientists say – utilizing the same optoelectronic physics used in solar panels.The obvious difference this would have compared with solar energy is that it would work during the night time, a potential source of renewable power that could keep on going round the clock and regardless of weather conditions.

Solar panels are basically large-scale photodiodes - devices made out of a semiconducting material that converts the photons (light particles) coming from the Sun into electricity…

READ MORE
power lines

Competition in Electricity Has Been Good for Consumers and Good for the Environment

READ MORE

Nova Scotia Power says it now generates 30 per cent of its power from renewables

READ MORE

berlin-launches-electric-flying-ferry

Berlin Launches Electric Flying Ferry

READ MORE

Ontario government wants new gas plants to boost electricity production

READ MORE