Critical air pollution control equipment required to operate the facility was among the damaged equipment. GM contacted Eisenmann Corp. (Crystal Lake, IL) and, within four weeks, the company had its Valveless Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer delivered and installed at the plant. Two weeks after that, the system was on-line.

A normal installation of this type would take 18 to 20 weeks, according to Mark West, division general manager for the Environmental Division at Eisenmann. But because of the equipment’s design, a project team was able “to easily adapt the system to GM’s site-specific requirements and existing plant control schemes not damaged in the tornado,” he says.

The system eliminates the need for multiple valves and chambers and replaces many moving parts with a single rotary distributor.