Case Study: Tanner Coatings & Pipeline Services Inc Go Green June 11, 2009 BACKGROUND Tanner Coatings & Pipeline Services Inc. is a family-owned business established in 1989. It provides coatings, cleaning, maintenance and upgrading services to the construction industry. The company specializes in work on cooling towers, pipeline equipment, as well as the removal of hazardous materials and the application of specialty coatings to industrial surfaces. David Tanner is a co-founder of the Tennessee-based company. SITUATION A natural gas transmission client, Trunkline Gas Company, in Louisiana needed the evaporator coils on four cooling towers cleaned. The towers act as radiators for engines that transmit natural gas. The "radiators" measure 22-feet by 22-feet. Cleaning the coils improves the efficiency and lifespan of the engines. "Companies want to clean the towers instead of replacing them," David Tanner said. But the Tanner crew faced a thorny problem for this coil cleaning job: Due to the nature of the ground beneath the towers, any coil cleaner chemicals used could enter the local drainage system and possibly the ground water. They needed a product that was going to be both effective and safe. DECISION David Tanner considered a green coil cleaner he had used for a previous job. But when he checked the material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), he realized it wouldn't work for this project. Compared to Daimer's plant-based Eco-Green® Evaporator Coil Cleaner, "The other product wasn't as environmentally safe," he said. "[Eco-Green®] was the only product I found that was safe for ground water." He subsequently purchased 35 gallons of the Daimer coil cleaner and had it shipped to the Louisiana site. The Tanner crew applied the Eco-Green® Evaporator Coil Cleaner to the bases of the radiators where most of the soil collected. Then the crew used a pressure washer to spray off the coil cleaner. In the end, the Tanner crew used less than 25 gallons for the four-tower project. BOTTOM LINE David Tanner said a visual inspection of the job showed that Eco-Green® Evaporator Coil Cleaner worked as well as the product he used previously. Tanner said he sees a large potential market for environmentally-safe coil cleaning projects. This is something clients could do each year to improve operating efficiency and save on replacing costly components. "[In the power industry] in-house environmental departments are always a step ahead of the Federal government." And the new administration has made the greening of America a high priority. The upshot: A key part of winning jobs will be using ecologically-safe products. Company Information:
Tanner Coatings & Pipeline Services Inc.
Description:
Price: As low as $3.22 per gallon, depending on volume, including shipping. Supplier Information:
Daimer Industries, Inc.
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