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Car manufacturing giant Ford have patented a system which converts paint spraying emissions into electricity. What’s more, the firm has announced plans to install the unique system at one of its Canadian assembly plants.

The installation will be the first of its kind in the world and represents a real step forward for sustainable business development. The paint spraying process has always been one of the least environmentally-friendly stages of vehicle production but now the plan is for fumes from paint solvents involved in the process to be converted into 300 kilowatts of green energy in the form of electricity.

A technical specialist at Ford commented “The Oakville installation is the first of its kind in the world to harvest emissions from an automotive facility for use in fuel cell. It is the greenest technology and offers the perfect solution to the industry's biggest environmental challenge traditionally.”

With today’s ever-growing concerns for sustainable energy, businesses are having to come up with ways to minimize emissions and create renewable energy sources wherever possible. The Ford system has been developed as a responsible way to remove volatile organic compounds (VOC) from the emissions generated via the painting operation. Carbon beads capture the VOCs for use in the fuel cell, which converts the waste products into electricity.

The 300 kilowatt fuel cell is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by a massive 88% whilst eliminating nitrogen oxide emissions completely. Plans are afoot to start using the fuel cell unit early next year. If successful, the system could eventually become standard practice at Ford' other plants.

The company also recently announced a new environmentally-friendly anti-corrosion treatment (currently in testing mode) that cuts water usage in half and also reduces waste by 90%.

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[ Ford Turn Fumes Into Electricity ]