Plastic vs Steel

By Jeff Zvolanek, Industrial Engineer – Industrial Maid LLC

Industrial Maid has developed a line of air filtration products that utilizes recycled high density polyethylene plastic. The outer cabinet is fabricated from plastic rather than steel. The use of plastic versus steel offers several key benefits including the following:

• lower cost than steel
• resists denting and scratching
• dampens the noise of the motor/blower
• plastic is 38% the weight of steel (lighter finished product)
• manufacturing polyethylene requires only a fraction of the energy required to produce steel from iron ore
• less waste stream for compliance to ISO 14,001 purchasing standards (less water, air and soil contamination in the manufacturing process i.e. no painting, grinding, washing & welding involved on the exterior cabinet)
• very resistant to caustic materials that may break down steel and its coatings
• may be recycled up to 10 times during its organic lifecycle

The polyethylene plastic does not offer the same strength characteristics of steel, but that is not a critical factor with the air filtration cabinets. Polyethylene does meet all NFPA fire codes for an exposed material.

Summary - the use of plastic in the manufacturing process for air filtration products will help the user in the following ways:

• lighter equipment for shipping and hanging installations
• less noise than a traditional steel unit with comparable motor/blower
• fully modular and easily re-configured in the field
• environmentally friendly
• better appearance with no chance of rust or scratches
• more versatile in harsh environments
• less expensive final product

The bulk of the preceding data was collected by University of Nebraska Partners in Pollution Prevention intern Alex Pesak. Alex, a senior mechanical engineering student, worked during the summer of 2004 studying the feasibility of using recycled polyethylene plastic as an alternative to carbon steel. He also looked at the environmental benefits of plastic versus steel.

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