UNH Interns Prove Preventing Pollution Is Good Business: Interns And Sponsors Honored For Cutting Pollution

UNH recently recognized five interns and their sponsors for their money-saving pollution prevention work.

Pollution Fighters: Chris Hikel, Stephanie Grainger, Andrew Avery, Andrew Phyllides, and Dmitri Tsentalovich

Unique in New England, the UNH Pollution Prevention Internship (P2I) program pairs students with local businesses and government agencies. After receiving special training, the engineering students spent their summer saving the environment—and money—by designing ways to reduce the amount of pollution generated by their sponsors.

Stephanie Grainger of Londonderry helped Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials in Marlboro, Mass. save about $25,000 annually. She researched a process the company now uses to purify used acetone so it can be reused in cleaning processes.

Andrew Phyllides of Concord worked as the Pollution Prevention Intern Coordinator at the N.H. Department of Environmental Services. He also worked on a variety of projects, including the "Green Yards" program, which recognizes automobile salvage yards that go above and beyond the environmental standards set by law. And the "Green Fleet" project, an effort to replace state vehicles with higher efficiency models to save energy and reduce air pollution.

Andrew Avery of Canterbury, Conn. helped Sermatech International's Manchester, Conn. plant reduce and maximize the return on waste in its thermal spray department through recycling. He also created an easy-to-use database of all the Material Safety Data Sheets for chemicals used by the company.

Christopher Hikel of Bedford saved the Freudenberg-NOK plant in Bristol an estimated $70,000 annually by insulating high pressure steam lines and fuel tanks in the company's boiler system. He also developed a way for the company to purify waste oil for use in the boiler.

Dmitri Tsentalovich of Atkinson saved C.I.L. Metal Finishing in Lawrence, Mass. $40,000-$100,000 annually by streamlining the company's electroplating and anodizing processes. He also saved the company money by improving paint transfer efficiency by switching to a new kind of paint gun.

Established in 1994 through cooperative efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency, NHDES and UNH, the P2I program has placed more than 100 interns at more than 50 facilities. The program is now saving participating companies an estimated $3.2 million per year.

"The goal of the program,” says Ihab Farag, professor of chemical engineering and director of the program, “is to provide students with hands-on experience at real-world manufacturing sites and to foster a new pollution-prevention ethic. We are training a new breed of informed professionals who are well prepared to enter the work force and to address the challenges of greener and sustainable production.”

Pollution Fighters: Chris Hikel, Stephanie Grainger, Andrew Avery, Andrew Phyllides, and Dmitri Tsentalovich.