ACMA Releases Update for UEF Standard
Earlier this month, the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA) released its fifth edition of the UEF Emission Factors for Open Molding and Other Composite Processes.
Commonly described as the "UEF standard,” the ACMA-developed American National Standard was first introduced in 1999 through a consensus standards process promulgated by the American National Standards Institute.
After its debut, the UEF standard was later accepted by every permitting authority in the U.S. as it allowed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to promote control technology standards for composite open molding operations based on process and material changes verses just add-on controls.
According to ACMA, the updated standard includes tools for estimating emissions of styrene, methylstyrene and methyl methacrylate from composites manufacturing operations using thermosetting unsaturated polyester and vinyl ester resins and gel coats.
"As our industry continues to explore ways to improve safety and effectively comply with regulations, composites manufacturers can use the UEF Standard to cost-effectively prepare emission estimates for reporting to state emission inventories, EPA's TRI database, and for other purposes,” said ACMA President Tom Dobbins.
“The UEF Standard is an important tool for manufacturers to plan production while ensuring that permitted emission limits are not surpassed. Without this vital product, many composites manufacturers would find they need to conduct expensive and unpredictable source tests, requiring burdensome measures to capture all emissions to a single sample point."
Additionally, the update is also reported to have included new emission estimation tools for cast polymer manufacturing, clarifications, explanations and other improvements for approximating emissions from various open molding, compound manufacturing and compression molding operations.
ACMA members can receive preferred pricing on the updated edition, which is now available for purchase online in ACMA's Education Hub.
