WASI Case Study: The Boeing Company
Point of Contact
Deborah Purce, dpurce@uw.edu
Description
This Washington Applied Sustainability Internship (WASI) project had two parts.
The first part of the project worked with the Boeing Auburn and Boeing Frederickson sites to create an environmental heat map. This heat map will track both ongoing and upcoming projects focused on reducing the environmental waste and utility consumption of the two facilities. These projects will help the two locations meet their operational performance targets by 2025.
The heat map will improve the data tracking and communication on different projects. This will allow teams to adjust more quickly. The heat map will also give Boeing the opportunity to identify and prevent potential delays or issues earlier in the planning phase.
The WASI intern also assisted with an Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) conservation project to minimize the sludge produced by Boeing’s Wastewater Pretreatment Plant (WPP). The WPP treats 500,000 gallons of water and generates 500 gallons of wastewater sludge each day. The sludge currently contains 25 to 30 percent solids. The goal was to find opportunities to reduce the overall water content of the sludge produced, reducing hazardous waste generated by up to 10 percent.
Sludge drying options must continue to meet all waste management criteria defined under the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and the Clean Air Act. An alternative to the traditional heat dryers includes the ELODE unit, a new process that electrically charges the sludge to help dewater it. Using this new technology could result in an estimated annual 121-ton reduction of hazardous waste, reducing the annual total by 10 percent and creating a savings greater than or equal to $45,000 annually.