2001 – 2009 Past Intern Projects
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2006 – 2009
Johnson Screens, New Brighton
Goal: Evaluate options to improve water recycling and the compressed air system.
Oak Hills Living Center, New Ulm
Goal: Identify ways to reduce pharmaceutical waste through the use of an automated distribution system.
Roberts Automatic, Chanhassen
Goal: Reduce electrical and gas consumption in production areas and oil mist generation in work spaces.
UMMC-Fairview, Minneapolis
Goal: Work with the green team and evaluate the potential of implementing reusable gowns.
Atritech Inc., Plymouth
Goal: Develop new packaging concept to reduce medical device packaging waste.
Granite Falls Energy, LLC, Granite Falls
Goal: Conduct energy efficiency analysis of various parts of the ethanol plant.
Hitchcock Industries, Bloomington
Project 1 Goal: Determine feasibility of using a fluidized bed system.
Hitchcock Industries, Bloomington
Project 2 Goal: Investigate the opportunity to replace sulfur hexafluoride.
Metropolitan Council Environmental Services, Saint Paul
Goal: Determine the efficiency of the current blower operation and how that operation could be improved with different controls or strategies.
Minnesota Energy, Buffalo Lake
Goal: Evaluate water saving opportunities for ethanol production.
Twin City Die Casting, Minneapolis
Goal: Reduce electrical and thermal energy use in facility.
St. Luke’s Hospital, Duluth
Goal: Minimize hazardous materials by incorporating environmentally preferable purchasing protocols and reduce blue wrap use.
Advanced Web, Minneapolis
Goal: Reduce scrap rate and the volume of waste paper produced.
Arctic Cat, Thief River Falls
Goal: Reduce energy use from the paint line, reduce phosphorus discharges in the wastewater, and improve compressed air efficiency.
Boise Cascade, International Falls
Goal: Improve energy efficiency and conserve water by improving the compressed air system efficiency, improving steam system insulation, and reducing water use.
Cook Area Health Services, Bigfork
Goal: Reduce pharmaceutical waste at its hospitals, medical clinics and nursing home.
The Dotson Company, Mankato
Goal: Reduce energy use by reusing process heat from casting iron.
Greatbatch – Globe Tool, Minneapolis
Goal: Reduce trichloroethylene (TCE) emissions from vapor degreasers.
Kraft Foods Global, New Ulm
Goal: Reduce water use by reclaiming water for reuse and reduce energy use by installing a condensing boiler-stack economizer and installing a heat recovery system on the ammonia gas compressor system to capture waste heat.
McLean Thermal – Hoffman Enclosures, Inc., Champlin
Goal: Improve operating efficiencies in the pre-paint/ washer/conversion coating process lines by reducing cleaning chemical use, energy consumption of heated stages, and wastewater discharge.
Olmsted Medical Center, Rochester
Goal: Reduce hazards associated with chemicals and reduce number of chemicals used for cleaning and disinfecting.
Alexandria Finishing, Alexandria
Goal: Reduce wastewater and wastewater treatment chemicals in the facility.
Metropolitan Council Environmental Services, Saint Paul
Goal: Improve the energy efficiency of its secondary treatment aeration system.
QX, Inc., Hamel
Goal: Reduce energy use in the melt furnace operation and recover heat from the evaporator system.
Tennant Company, Golden Valley
Goal: Reduce water and chemical use in painting pretreatment and improve energy efficiency.
Tri-County Hospital, Wadena
Goal: Reduce pharmaceutical waste.
2001 – 2005
Allina Hospitals and Clinics, Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Minneapolis
Goal: Minimize toxic product use in maintenance and environmental services.
Nordic Ware, Saint Louis Park
Goal: Reduce energy used for makeup air units in the painting areas and improve heating efficiency during non-manufacturing hours.
Stone Products of St. Cloud, Inc., Saint Cloud
Goal: Automate the gel-coat spray operation to reduce waste, toxic air emissions, and worker exposure, while improving quality.
Stylmark, Inc., Fridley
Goal: Reduce an anodizing line’s nitric acid use and nitrate discharge.
Thomas Engineering Company, Brooklyn Park
Goal: Replace trichloroethylene (TCE) degreasing with a combination of n-Propyl Bromide and aqueous degreasing.
U.S. Distilled Products, Princeton
Goal: Reduce packaging and product losses, and wastewater generation from the production lines.
Aveda Corporation, Blaine
Goal: Evaluate ways to reduce water use and evaluate efficiency of the reverse osmosis system.
Blandin Paper, Grand Rapids
Goal: Increase the efficiency of the clay preparation area by recovering material for reuse and removing material from the wastewater.
Endocardial Solutions, Saint Paul
Goal: Reduce costs associated with the use of non-value added materials in the manufacture of medical devices.
Hutchinson Technology, Hutchinson
Goal: Test ways to reduce water use and improve rinse water cleanliness.
Pro-Corn LLC, Preston
Goal: Evaluate energy conservation opportunities for motors and uninsulated piping at an ethanol production facility.
Redwood Area Hospital, Redwood Falls
Goal: Research how to reduce volume of solid waste and waste that results in the emission of persistent bioaccumulative toxins (PBTs).
Rock-Tenn Company, Saint Paul
Goal: Improve facility insulation to reduce energy costs.
Ultra Image Powder Coating, Big Lake
Goal: Evaluate how to reduce raw material use in the powder coating application process.
Crenlo LLC, Rochester
Goal: Reduce paint arrestor waste and evaluate opportunities to conserve water and chemicals.
Greif, Rosemount
Goal: Reduce scrap by reviewing scrap-generating processes in the tubing department, including density of plain paper rolls, setup procedures and cutting operations.
Intermet, Minneapolis
Goal: Examine water use and wastewater, focusing on water use at the tumblers and evaluate electricity use, mainly on the compressors, motors and natural gas to the evaporator.
Lou-Rich, Albert Lea
Goal: Reduce water used in cleaning and cooling operations by 8.9 million gallons per year, saving $42,100 annually.
Malt-O-Meal, Northfield
Goal: Evaluate options to decrease the volume of off-specification product produces.
Tiro Industries, Fridley
Goal: Reduce water and wastewater to reduce a Service Availability Charge (SAC).
Associated Finishing, Mankato
Goal: Work with molten salt paint stripping materials and methods to reduce phosphorus in wastewater.
HealthEast, Saint Paul
Goal: Recommend equipment modifications and reusable sharp containers.
K-Bar Industries, Faribault
Goal: Improve inspection of reject parts before stripping, increase operator awareness, and suggest process changes.
Lifecore Biomedical, Chaska
Goal: Remove unnecessary equipment and repair water valves to reduce water use.
Technical Plating, Brooklyn Park
Goal: Improve flow control on one plating line and recommend effluent reuse.
Hibbing Taconite, Hibbing
Goal: Reduce ore spills by making equipment and maintenance changes.