Tokico Automotive (Suzhou), a company in the Hitachi Automotive Systems Group, manufactures suspension parts like struts and shock absorbers for automobiles and brake parts such as brake calipers and master cylinders. These are chassis products that affect the basic automobile functions of running, turning, and stopping. Since the company uses large volumes of paint that contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs)*1 in the painting processes for suspension parts, in January 2019 it installed a condensation/regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) VOC emissions treatment unit. This resulted in a huge decrease of about 90% in VOC emissions into the atmosphere in fiscal 2019 compared with fiscal 2018.
This regenerative combustion type VOC emissions treatment unit generally has a high heat recovery rate and can reduce both running costs and CO2 emissions volumes, bringing both economic and environmental advantages in addition to VOC emission reductions. The company will make ongoing efforts to keep VOC emissions down and contribute positively to protection of the earth's environment.
