We typically associate the term “aerosol” with liquid that’s compressed in a spray can that emits a fine mist when we press a button on top of the can. However, nature and not humans created the first aerosols. Technically, an aerosol is a “colloidal system of solid or liquid particles in a gas” (Wikipedia). For example, cloud vapor is considered aerosol, and so is fine dust that rides on desert winds for weeks at a time. In one way or another, aerosol is a part of daily existence.
Aerosol for Removing Aerosol
It may seem ironic, but natural aerosol — particularly dust that remains suspended within airflow — can create soil accumulation on parts that a laboratory-formulated aerosol cleans away. Why would a company or organization use aerosol solvent to remove dirt and grime instead of a solvent that can be applied in greater volume and dispensed at a faster rate aerosol?
For outfits that use aerosol solvent for industrial grade parts cleaning, one or more of the following reasons justifies the use of aerosol solvent over solvent that’s packaged in non-aerosol form: cleaning parts that have complex geometries, dispersing solvent in a uniform fashion, the availability of large, aerosol cylinders whose spray nozzle can deliver aerosol with impressive pressure, and the opportunity to reduce waste disposal cost.
- Parts With Complex Geometries
Because aerosol spray emits a cloud ultra fine solvent particles, it’s ideal for cleaning parts that have complex geometries. Such parts can be cleaned with pump action spray bottles that have a more robust method of dispersal. However, to cleanse all the nooks and crannies of a geometrically complex part using this method, the part must often be heavily saturated with solvent, which could pose several problems, depending on the part’s composition and function.
- Dispersing Solvent Uniformly
Unlike solvent that’s applied with a traditional pump action sprayer, aerosol solvent has a hovering effect that makes it ideal for applying solvent across a given area in a highly uniform manner. For a large surface, this feature helps ensure that the surface is cleansed evenly, and effectively prevents rework in the form of spot cleaning to make the surface uniformly clean.
- Availability of Aerosol Cylinders
Purchasing aerosol solvents for cleaning parts isn’t limited to buying handheld spray cans. Through Ecolink, you also have the opportunity to purchase large cylinders of aerosol that come complete with a special spray applicator that controls the density and force of the solvent stream. Large compared to aerosol bottles, these cylinders are still compact enough to transport using a small, two-wheel dolly.
- Reduce Waste Disposal Cost
Because aerosol is easy to disperse in the precise amount needed for the cleaning operation, it helps prevent excess solvent from gathering in the waste trap. Over time, this ultimately translates into needing to empty the trap less often, which helps reduce waste disposal cost.
Need Solvents for Cleaning Parts?
If so, you’ve come to the right place. Ecolink has years of experience supplying environmentally preferred and environmentally safe solvents that offer the same or better cleaning power than the highly hazardous solvents they are formulated to replace. In addition to providing stock solvents and custom solvents in handheld aerosol cans and large cylinders, we also supply eco friendly solvents in the form of wipes, spray bottles, and drums of various sizes.
To get started on acquiring solvents for cleaning parts, please call us today at (800) 563-1305, or use our contact form. We look forward to presenting you with aerosol solutions for your industrial parts cleaning needs.
Solvents for Cleaning Parts: The Case for Aerosol Solvents
/in Aerosol/by Industrial DegreasersWe typically associate the term “aerosol” with liquid that’s compressed in a spray can that emits a fine mist when we press a button on top of the can. However, nature and not humans created the first aerosols. Technically, an aerosol is a “colloidal system of solid or liquid particles in a gas” (Wikipedia). For example, cloud vapor is considered aerosol, and so is fine dust that rides on desert winds for weeks at a time. In one way or another, aerosol is a part of daily existence.
Aerosol for Removing Aerosol
It may seem ironic, but natural aerosol — particularly dust that remains suspended within airflow — can create soil accumulation on parts that a laboratory-formulated aerosol cleans away. Why would a company or organization use aerosol solvent to remove dirt and grime instead of a solvent that can be applied in greater volume and dispensed at a faster rate aerosol?
For outfits that use aerosol solvent for industrial grade parts cleaning, one or more of the following reasons justifies the use of aerosol solvent over solvent that’s packaged in non-aerosol form: cleaning parts that have complex geometries, dispersing solvent in a uniform fashion, the availability of large, aerosol cylinders whose spray nozzle can deliver aerosol with impressive pressure, and the opportunity to reduce waste disposal cost.
Because aerosol spray emits a cloud ultra fine solvent particles, it’s ideal for cleaning parts that have complex geometries. Such parts can be cleaned with pump action spray bottles that have a more robust method of dispersal. However, to cleanse all the nooks and crannies of a geometrically complex part using this method, the part must often be heavily saturated with solvent, which could pose several problems, depending on the part’s composition and function.
Unlike solvent that’s applied with a traditional pump action sprayer, aerosol solvent has a hovering effect that makes it ideal for applying solvent across a given area in a highly uniform manner. For a large surface, this feature helps ensure that the surface is cleansed evenly, and effectively prevents rework in the form of spot cleaning to make the surface uniformly clean.
Purchasing aerosol solvents for cleaning parts isn’t limited to buying handheld spray cans. Through Ecolink, you also have the opportunity to purchase large cylinders of aerosol that come complete with a special spray applicator that controls the density and force of the solvent stream. Large compared to aerosol bottles, these cylinders are still compact enough to transport using a small, two-wheel dolly.
Because aerosol is easy to disperse in the precise amount needed for the cleaning operation, it helps prevent excess solvent from gathering in the waste trap. Over time, this ultimately translates into needing to empty the trap less often, which helps reduce waste disposal cost.
Need Solvents for Cleaning Parts?
If so, you’ve come to the right place. Ecolink has years of experience supplying environmentally preferred and environmentally safe solvents that offer the same or better cleaning power than the highly hazardous solvents they are formulated to replace. In addition to providing stock solvents and custom solvents in handheld aerosol cans and large cylinders, we also supply eco friendly solvents in the form of wipes, spray bottles, and drums of various sizes.
To get started on acquiring solvents for cleaning parts, please call us today at (800) 563-1305, or use our contact form. We look forward to presenting you with aerosol solutions for your industrial parts cleaning needs.
How to Replace NPB Aerosols Without Losing Productivity
/in N-Propyl Bromide/by Industrial DegreasersAlso known as 1-Bromopane and n-propyl bromide, nPB is a chemical compound that has been used increasingly for the past 20 years as a solvent for industrial work processes, particularly: aerosol glue applications, asphalt production, synthetic fiber production, and degreasing.
However, since the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a final rule that adds nPB to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) list of reportable chemicals, users of the solvent must file TRI reporting forms that document release and waste management data for the solvent. Ultimately, this means large-scale users of nPB products can no longer use them in quantities required to effectively perform the work processes above, among others.
nPB Replacement and Productivity
Because the U.S. Department of Health’s National Toxicology Program (NTP) finds that nPB is “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen,” all users of the solvent have at least one good reason to replace it. However, for outfits for which nPB plays a crucial role in work processes, one of the greatest barriers to replacement is the temporary, potential loss of productivity that can occur when swapping out one industrial solvent for another.
Is it possible to eliminate a lag in productivity when you replace nPB aerosols? When your company or organization works with an experienced supplier of environmentally friendly and environmentally preferred industrial solvents, the answer is yes. Here is a simplified, four-part version how the ideal replacement process works:
Because nPB has demonstrated ill effects on human health, discontinuing nPB swiftly after receiving a replacement is the best option. You may not recoup your full investment in nPB if you don’t use your reserve supply. However, considering that financial setbacks that could occur from health problems that nPB exposure causes (i.e, workers comp claims, chemical injury lawsuits, and increased sick days taken) absorbing the loss could actually be the most cost effective option.
Need to Replace nPB Aerosols?
When you replace nPB aerosols, there are four things you need in the replacement products: solutions that have the same or greater efficacy as nPB, solutions that are available in aerosol form, “drop in” solutions that can be used to immediately replace nPB, and solutions that have a good safety profile for workers and the environment.
Ecolink can provide you with stock solvents or custom solvents that meet all three requirements, and supply them on an extended basis to support business productivity. In addition, by providing free solvent samples, we help you purchase our products with the utmost assurance that they will meet your solvent application needs that nPB once met.
If you need to replace nPB aerosols, give us a call today at (800) 563-1305, or use the contact form on our website. We look forward to helping you replace nPB aerosols without losing productivity.
Reducing Exposure to VOC Chemicals: 4 Strategies
/in Low VOC/by Industrial DegreasersVolatile organic compounds (VOCs) are chemical compounds that have a high vapor pressure at normal room temperature (roughly 72 degrees). Their high vapor pressure results from their low boiling points, which accounts for their swift transition from liquid to vapor, and gives them their “volatile” nature.
VOCs may be organic — a term we typically associate with healthy, sustainable products — but don’t let the word “organic” in volatile organic compounds fool you. Just as there are plenty of healthy organic substances, there are plenty of unhealthy ones, too — and VOC solvents often contain more than one of these dangerous substances.
That’s why we’re taking the time to discuss strategies you can take for reducing VOC chemicals in the workplace. By reducing VOC exposure, you’ll help prevent short-term effects of exposure to dangerous VOCs (e.g., headaches, dizziness, and respiratory distress), and help eliminate long-term effects of exposure (e.g., cancer, liver damage, and central nervous system (CNS) damage).
We’ll start with the best option — and usually the most cost effective one — first: replacing solvents that have a plentitude of VOCs with solvents that are used for reducing VOC chemicals. It’s the same as with solving other problems in the workplace: Removing the source of the problem is the most effective way to remove its consequences. Ecolink can supply you with solvents that are low VOC or have zero VOC content.
The next best solution for reducing VOC chemicals in terms of the health protection is to implement Level 3 PPE that features an aspirator that removes airborne contaminants. This level of PPE essentially encloses the worker in a protective envelope that prevents the inhalation of toxic vapors, as well as skin contact with them. PPE can be expensive, but, in the legal arena, it isn’t nearly as costly as the chemical injury lawsuits it helps to prevent.
Any company or organization that works with VOC solvents should have an air filtration system that removes VOCs from the air in the work environment. However, an air filtration system alone is rarely enough to prevent health problems that occur due to VOC exposure. The filtration system seldom captures VOCs immediately after they vaporize, which is often when the most intense level of exposure occurs.
If you must absolutely use a solvent that has medium to high VOC content, using it in a sealed parts washing system is typically the best-case scenario. But the scenario is dependent on using a parts washing system that automatically transfers the solvent to a waste trap, or condenses the solvent in a cooling chamber that prepares the solvent to be reused.
Who We Are
Ecolink is a longtime supplier of industrial grade, environmentally preferred and environmentally safe solvents that are used for various applications, from general degreasing to removing flux residue. In addition to supplying stock solvents, we also accept custom orders that address the needs of specific customers. To learn more about our products and services, please call us today at (800) 563-1305, or use the contact form on our website.
Welcome to Anaheim or Bust!
/in Ecolink News/by Industrial DegreasersLet’s Get Ready to Rumble!
Welcome to the kick-off for “Anaheim or Bust!” The first ever social media competition between Georgia DECA chapters with rewards totaling $25,000. Ecolink is proud to sponsor this event in honor of our company’s 25th anniversary. Statistics will tell you that not many businesses make it to 25 years, so we feel it should be celebrated! We also feel that now is the perfect time to do something we’ve never done before while giving back to the great state of Georgia. Check out the map below to see all the participating schools and where they are located across the state.
These 19 programs cover 14 counties and total over 1250 students!
The competition is officially kicking off on 10/10 and will run through 11/11, 25 days to celebrate 25 years with $25,000 (Fortuitous dates to pick if we do say so ourself). The participating DECA programs include over 1250 students. These students will be tasked with increasing Ecolink’s following by networking outside of their program, generating shares and traffic to their schools unique home page and creating new content to share across all of our social media platforms.
Without further adieu, here are our competitors!
Brandon Kang will be representing the following 7 schools as their official Ecolink Ambassador !
These 6 schools ambassador is Rhace Smith!
Last but not least, these 6 will be represented by Cheryl Maafoh!
Aerosol Cylinders From Ecolink: Is It Time To Replace Your Cans?
/in Aerosol/by Industrial DegreasersCleaning agents are purchased in aerosol form for various types of cleaning operations, from performing dielectric degreasing on energized motors to removing everyday soils from work surfaces, to removing flux residue from heat treated metal. However, regardless of the application, industrial cleaning agents like the kind Ecolink supplies are typically purchased in aerosol form for one or more of the following four reasons.
Aerosol cleaners emit an exceptionally fine mist of cleaning particles that gravity distributes evenly across the surface to be cleaned. This action of dispersal is especially useful for cleaning parts whose complex geometries make them difficult — if not impossible — to effectively clean with solvents that are dispersed in a liquid consistency. Aerosol excels at cleaning surfaces that are spatially complex.
As long as they are properly formulated for evaporative action, aerosol cleaners naturally facilitate ultra fast evaporation due to the infinitesimally thin coating they apply to the surface that needs treatment. This action makes them ideal for cleaning parts that could oxidize from solvent oversaturation and parts that need to dry fast, so they can be quickly reinserted in the work process.
The infinitesimally thin coating that aerosol cleaners apply to solid surfaces also helps facilitate low-residue cleaning. As long as it is properly formulated, the solvent can drip dry in a matter of seconds, and leave the surface purged of soils while leaving it completely dry. When aerosols do leave behind a residue, its thin consistency can make the residue easier to remove.
Aerosol is exceptionally easy to use in small amounts, while perfectly distributing the cleaning agent across the surface. This is why aerosol solvents are frequently preferred for parts cleaning operations that are exceptionally limited in scope or are performed infrequently. Aerosol makes it easy to conserve solvent, which makes it easier to reduce solvent expense.
Aerosol Cylinders Instead of Bottles
In addition to being available in handheld aerosol bottles, our aerosol solvents are also available in aerosol cylinders that house significantly more aerosol in a single, non-flammable container than a conventional aerosol bottle (36 pounds of cleaner, to be exact, for a total weight of 46 pounds).
In addition to lowering solvent expense, using our aerosol cylinders instead of aerosol bottles helps simplify solvent storage, container disposal, and provides refined control over the solvent stream.
See An Aerosol Cylinder in Action
To see how easy our aerosol cylinders are to use, check out this video of one of the cylinders in action. Whether you use aerosol solvents in large quantities, small quantities, or somewhere in-between, our aerosol cylinders are both a cost saving opportunity and a way to simplify solvent use in terms of solvent dispersal, container storage, and container disposal (recyclable).
For inquiries, please call us today at (800) 563-1305, or use our contact form. We look forward to providing the option to acquire crucial aerosol solvent in convenient, easy to use cylinders.