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Innovation Award for Equipment:
TASROP, Inc. STW Water Filtration System

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Robert Miller runs TASROP, Inc., a powder coating job shop at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Florence, CO. It’s part of a full service machine shop he started in 1998. His powder coating operation had always been environmentally friendly; however, the company still had to deal with the high costs and environmental impact associated with disposing of wastewater generated from his metal pretreatment system.

A local drought spurred Miller to seek a solution, but there didn’t appear to be any technology available to accomplish the job. So he created his own system. The resulting equipment, which he calls the Save the Water (STW) recycling system, reduced his water usage from 16,000 gallons of water per month to 1200 gallons per month, and from three barrels of chemicals per month to one and a half barrels per year — a 90% savings on water and chemicals.

The system processes the contaminated water and chemical solutions though its proprietary filtration system, then refilters the solution continually and pumps it back into the power washer/cleaning system. Miller calculated that a company using 15,000 to 18,000 gallons of water and 165 to 185 gallons of chemical cleaning agent per month could decrease its usage to less than 1,200 gallons of water and 7 gallons of cleaning agent per month by using the new recycling system. Based on that model, a small business could potentially save $17,000 per year — while also helping to protect valuable natural resources.

Editor’s note: Feature articles on the Plasmatreat, TASROP and MacDermid technologies have appeared in past issues of Finishing Today magazine.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

    Motor Controls, Inc. (MCI) started its metal fabrication five years ago as a supplemental operation to its electrical control panel fabrication. The metal fabrication portion of our company fabricates custom electrical enclosures out of carbon steel, aluminum, and stainless steel. Part of the metal fabrication process is a batch powder coating operation and has been in place since its inception. The phosphate pre treat process in place for all of these years has been a spray to waste steam method which was chosen solely due to the low amount of waste water it would generate. Sufficient cleaning of the material has always been an issue and has caused us significant problems but the cost of water, water surcharges, and waste discharge issues which are all related with pressure washing kept us using steam and we just found ways to work around all of the problems. In 2006 I started looking for a way to replace steam with pressure washing and implement a recycling system. The recycler system costs from multiple suppliers were between $30,000 and $75,000. All of the systems seemed very complicated to maintain and the replacement parts were expensive. MCI had to get something in place soon due to the rough nature of our steam generator and our reliance on it for production. We decided on a system that was going to cost us around $50,000 and I was in the final stages of issuing a purchase order when I felt the need to go back on the web and research recycling systems one more time. I stumbled across a patent from a man in Colorado which described a very simple but effective system. I was intrigued by this system and I began searching the patent name and eventually I found TASROP. When I called the company I had a very pleasant and informative conversation with Robert Miller with no heavy salesman tactics to which I have become accustomed to. A short time later Robert Miller showed up at MCI in a pickup truck with a recycler ready to demonstrate the system. My first reaction to the system was somewhat of disbelief. How could this simple system with low cost components do what all of the other complicated and expensive systems do? After talking with Robert for several hours I was convinced and we set the system up and have not looked back since. I can honestly state that anyone using a spray to waste pressure washer system without one of the TASROP recyclers is out of their mind! Our estimated chemical usage was going to be around 110 gallons a month with a monthly water usage of around 15,350 gallons. MCI would also have to pay a monthly water surcharge for monthly water usage in excess of 15,000 gallons. Instead of a three to five year payoff for other recycling systems we were going to see a one year payoff! The TASROP systems chemical, pre treated steel, and powder coated material was monitored very closely by our Quality Department twice a day for the first 30 days. During those 30 days our pre treat quality increased exponentially and all that I heard from the quality and coatings departments was why did we not do this before? I replied that I had not had the opportunity to meet Robert Miller yet!!!!! Aside from the fact that this system saves money it is good for the environment. With the ever increasing water conservation efforts being put into place in the Dallas area a recycling system was a must for us and should be for anyone operating a phosphate pre treat operation.

Thank You Robert Miller and all of those associated with TASROP, INC.
Sincerely,
Jeff Hains
Engineering Manager
Motor Controls, Inc.