Greener BMW Production? BMW Further Reduces Emissions During Paint Process

Most of us are familiar with the noxious fumes that paint and solvents can release into the air around us. Rooms in our homes updated from plain white walls to trendy greige and back again, or the multi-purpose brake cleaner in the garage, holding our breath and taking a few steps away gasping for cleaner air feels like second nature.

While BMW Group currently incorporates exhaust purification processes in their production facilities, utilizing new electric regenerative thermal oxidation systems, it has eliminated the usage of natural gas in the paint shop exhaust purification processes. The first systems have already been tested at Plant Regensburg and BMW Brilliance in China, and Plant Dingolfing has converted a painting line for the new system to be used in series production. When the BMW Group’s newest plant goes on stream in Debrecen in 2025, it will use only the new method.

Michele Melchiorre, Head of Production System, Planning, Tool Shop, and Plant Construction at the BMW Group: “For other energy-intensive paint shop processes, such as vehicle drying and water heating, solutions already exist for working without natural gas. So, electric exhaust purification is the final stepping stone for the BMW Group to run its paint shops on regenerative energy in the future.”