Marshall invests £130,000 to cut carbon footprint of its aircraft paint shop by 40 per cent
The carbon footprint of Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group’s paint shop will be slashed by more than 40 per cent when it upgrades its burner system at a cost of nearly £130,000.
The Cambridge company said carbon dioxide emissions will be cut from 2,100 tonnes to 1,200 tonnes per year by fitting additional ceramic in its Regenerative Thermal Oxidiser (RTO), which removes odours and fumes from its aircraft painting facility.
Tony Smith, paint facility co-ordinator at Marshall, said: “Our RTO is already highly effective, but we identified a way to reduce our environmental impact even further, which is obviously the right thing to do, for our neighbours and the planet as a whole,”
Marshall’s paint shop is used to finish the repaired, modified or overhauled aircraft for the RAF, foreign military and civil customers.
The upgrade is part of a large continuous improvement programme from Marshall to set high standards in environmental sustainability, safety and financial efficiency.
It follows analysis of energy usage since the £5.5million upgrade by Marshall four years ago, when the paint shop was moved to a new location at the airport, the height of its chimney was doubled and the state-of-the-art RTO was installed. The move made the facility one of the most environmentally-effective paint shops in Cambridgeshire.
The main paint bay - one of the largest in Europe - can house a Boeing 747.
“We’ll be saving the equivalent CO2 as emitted by more than 120 homes, and that is significant. No one will see any difference, but just knowing we are doing the right thing for the environment is enough,” said Mr Smith.
The new ceramic will be fitted in July and the installation will also enable the company to turn off the RTO when not in use, which could save the company a further 30 per cent in running costs.
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