Since the 1920s, the halogenated chemical compound trichloroethylene has been used for a variety of purposes around the world, including anesthesia, separation of oil from vegetables, and industrial cleaning. Today, many years after being banned for food uses (1977) and identified as a probable cause of cancer (1987), trichloroethylene is primarily recognized as an industrial solvent that is used for degreasing, spot cleaning, and formulating spray fixatives.
However, even these uses of the toxic solvent appear to be on their way out the door after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provided the following statement via news release in July 2015: “EPA Reaches Agreement with Manufacturer to Stop Use of TCE in Spray Fixative Products Used on Arts and Crafts. EPA also taking regulatory action to reduce exposure to this chemical.”
The statement follows a 2014 statement from the EPA that came from the organization’s final risk assessment of trichloroethylene. In that statement, the EPA clarified that it has “identified health risks from TCE exposures to consumers using spray aerosol degreasers and spray fixatives” and “health risks to workers when TCE is used as a degreaser in small commercial shops and as a stain removing agent in dry cleaning.”
Bad News for Trichloroethylene Manufacturers
The EPA’s findings on trichloroethylene are reminiscent of its findings on asbestos in the 1970s that led to the severe regulation of asbestos and banned the new use of the product in 1989 — a ruling that was later revised to be less stringent. Asbestos is still used in certain capacities in the U.S., and trichloroethylene may have the same future, but large-scale use of the solvent will almost certainly be banned, forcing trichloroethylene manufacturers to find new revenue streams and organizations that use a high volume of the solvent to search out non toxic replacements.
Like asbestos regulations, trichloroethylene regulations will be enforced under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Violators will face as yet to be finalized penalties that could range from escalating fines for repeat violations to the forced, temporary closure of business outfits that remain in violation even after fines are imposed. However, the increasing availability of highly efficacious, non toxic trichloroethylene replacements means that things needn’t come to that point for even the biggest trichloroethylene users.
Good News for Big Trichloroethylene Users
What is bad news for trichlorethylene manufacturers is ultimately good news for large-scale users of the solvent. They may be forced to abandon the use of trichloroethylene for certain applications and significantly curtail its use for others. But, in largely replacing the solution with one or more non toxic solvents, they stand to benefit financially by having a healthier workforce, one that won’t take sick days, file workers compensation claims, or file toxic torts (i.e., chemical injury lawsuits) due to the deleterious effects of trichloroethylene exposure.
The key, of course, is identifying non toxic solvents that work as drop-in replacements for trichloroethylene — a task that should involve the guidance of an experienced supplier of environmentally preferred and environmentally safe solvents, especially for organizations that don’t have a dedicated team of chemists. If your organization needs assistance finding safe trichloroethylene replacements that are as efficacious as the infamous solvent, Ecolink will help.
Contact Us for Toxic Solvent Replacements
Ecolink specializes in providing best in class, eco friendly replacements for toxic solvents such as trichloroethylene. Our non toxic solutions have no EPA listed hazardous ingredients and help our customers avoid costly government fines and the financial fallout that results from chemically injured workers. To identify the best replacement solvents for your unique needs, please call us today at (800) 563-1305, or fill out the contact form on our website.
Choosing a Parts Cleaning Solvent for Stainless Steel
/in Parts Washer/by Industrial DegreasersDue to its excellent dimensional stability, corrosion resistance under normal conditions, and clean appearance, stainless steel is one of the most commonly used metallic alloys for the composition of equipment housing and precision parts for numerous types of machinery. Maintaining these qualities in stainless steel depends partly on how it is cleaned. If you need a parts cleaning solvent for stainless steel, taking the six steps below will help you select one.
There are five families of stainless steel: austenitic, ferritic, martensitic, duplex, and precipitation hardening. All stainless steels contain at least 10.5% chromium by mass (chromium gives the metal its characteristic shine). However, different families of stainless steel contain different levels of chromium. Because chromium can be a highly reactive chemical compound, it’s important to determine the type of stainless steel you must clean before you choose a cleaner.
For the sake of efficiency, stainless steel parts that play a crucial role in work processes are typically cleaned in one of two ways: They are sprayed with an aerosol or pump action cleaner that has a high evaporation rate or placed in a parts washing system. The ideal cleaning method for your parts determines the basic type of solvent you need to complete the cleaning process.
Solvents that contain halogen salts — particularly chlorides — corrode stainless steel and ruin its attractive surface. Over time, surface corrosion can penetrate parts and lead to compromised dimensional stability. Prime examples of halogens that should be avoided when cleaning stainless steel are: fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and astitine. Wikipedia offers a list of halogenated solvents that should not be used to clean stainless steel under any condition.
Most organizations want stainless steel parts to remain bright and clean. Part of keeping them that way requires using a parts cleaning solvent that doesn’t leave a residue. You may not notice the residue that a residual cleaner leaves behind, but the residue will almost certainly attract dirt and grime to the parts. By helping stainless steel parts remain clean, using a non-residue parts cleaning solvent will help you perform the cleaning process less frequently.
Regardless of their efficacy for cleaning stainless steel, solvents that emit hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) should be avoided due to their effect on workers’ health. HAP solvents can cause acute conditions such as dizziness and chronic conditions such as nerve damage. In addition to impacting workers, these conditions also affect companies in the form of increased sick days taken, workers compensation, and chemical injury lawsuits (a.k.a. toxic torts).
Choosing a parts cleaning solvent for stainless steel involves several considerations. If you need help choosing the right solution, don’t resort to guesswork. Contact the solvent specialists at Ecolink by calling (800) 563-1305, or use the contact page on our website. If one of our readymade cleaners doesn’t meet your requirements, we will create a custom cleaner that does. We look forward to supplying you with the best cleaner for your stainless steel cleaning process.
Evaluating Industrial Solvent Suppliers: Frequently Asked Questions
/in Industrial Degreasers/by Industrial DegreasersWhen they need an industrial cleaning solvent, organizations naturally tend to focus on the quality of a cleaner and not the quality of the supplier. After all, it’s the supplier’s products and not the supplier that performs the cleaning. While this is true, it’s also true that solvent suppliers can have a major impact on your cleaning operations in terms of solvent cost, availability of solvents, and access to technical expertise, to name just a few. Before you choose a supplier, take some time to read through the questions below that pertain to the task.
Is it better to buy from a solvent manufacturer or from a solvent vendor?
Many organizations feel that buying from solvent suppliers that create their own products is the best option. Because manufacturers know more about their solvents than vendors that simply sells the products, they often provide a higher level of customer service in terms of helping customers choose the right products, use the products correctly, and replace them, as needed.
How do suppliers of “natural” solvents and “organic” solvents differ?
A “natural” solvent is simply one that is formulated with one or more natural ingredients. Because there is no regulation for the word “natural”, so-called natural solvents may or may not be as environmentally sound as their name implies. Some solvent suppliers use the term natural to promote sales and not to denote the implied purity of the product. “Organic” solvents, on the other hand, are tested to ensure that they truly possess an organic formulation.
Are an organic solvent supplier’s cleaning solutions naturally risk-free?
No. For example, a cleaning solvent that contains volatile organic compounds (VOCs) could have a fully organic formulation yet cause serious short-term and long-term health ailments in workers. So, solvent suppliers who promote “organic” solutions aren’t necessarily promoting solvents you would want to use. This is why it’s important to look at the safety data sheet for an organic cleaning solution to see if it contains VOCs.
How important is it to choose a solvent supplier that offers custom cleaners?
The answer depends on whether you can find a stock solvent that meets your cleaning requirements, or you need a custom solvent to address them. In the long-run, however, choosing a supplier that accepts custom solvent orders is the best idea. If your cleaning needs change, you may need a custom solution to perform them properly. In that situation, it would be much easier to place a custom order instead of looking for a new solvent supplier.
Why is using Ecolink a better choice than working with other solvent suppliers?
What separates us from the competition? The answer ultimately depends on which competitor you refer to, but there are five characteristics that, when combined, make us a highly desirable choice among all solvent suppliers: We offer non-toxic solvents that have the same power as toxic ones, create custom solvents, work with organizations of all sizes in all industries, deliver impeccable, all-around service, and price our cleaners competitively.
To request a product sample or place an order, call us today at (800) 563-1305, or use the contact page on our website. We look forward to the opportunity to meet your solvent needs.
Solvent Update: 1-bromopropane Added to NTP
/in N-Propyl Bromide/by Industrial DegreasersThe National Toxicology Program (NTP) — an interagency program in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) — recently added 1-bromopropane (a.k.a n-propyl bromide) to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) list of reportable chemicals.
The inclusion of 1-bromopropane in the list follows several years of research on the solvent’s negative impact on the environment and human health. After reviewing the NTP’s data, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruled that 1-bromopropane should be added to the NTP’s TRI list of reportable chemicals. The rule was published on 11-23-15.
Why the Solvent was Added to the TRI List
Although 1-bromopropane is known to harm the environment through the release of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), the EPA officially added the solvent to the TRI list due to the NTP’s conclusion that 1-bromopropane is “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen”. In turn, the EPA determined that “1-bromopropane meets the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) Section 313(d)(2)(B) statutory listing criteria”.
In most situations, cancer caused by 1-bromopropane exposure occurs after years of frequent contact with the solvent’s HAPs. However, in addition to chronic, debilitating health conditions, exposure to the solvent can also cause acute ailments that make it easier to quantify the negative health impact of 1-bromopropane in the short-term. These conditions include respiratory distress, profound dizziness, upset stomach, slurred speech, muscle twitching, and even loss of consciousness.
The Ruling’s Impact on 1-bromopropane Users
The EPA’s decision to have 1-bromopropane added to the NTP’s TRI list will reportedly affect 140 1-bromopane users, most of whom use large quantities of the solvent for commercial or industrial application, and thus have the greatest negative impact on the environment and human health among all users of 1-bromopropane.
The EPA doesn’t list these companies in its ruling to have 1-bromopropane added to the NTP’s TRI list, but industries in which the companies operate can be reasonably anticipated due to the solvent’s widespread use for certain work processes. Some of the most common of these work processes entail:
Based on the EPA’s decision to have 1-bromopropane added to the NTP’s TRI list, “1-bromopropane is reportable for the 2016 calendar year, with the first reporting forms due from TRI facilities by July 1, 2017.” Ultimately, this means that companies that use the solvent in large quantities should begin the process of replacing it with a safer solvent — an endeavor with which the experienced chemists Ecolink can provide assistance.
Contact Ecolink Today
At Ecolink, one of our specialities is providing environmentally friendly and environmentally safe solvents that are better for the environment and human health than toxic cleaning solvents such as 1-bromopropane. If you are ready to replace the solvent in your work processes, please call us today at (800) 563-1305, or use the contact page on our website. The sooner you replace 1-bromopropane with a safer solvent, the sooner your workers and the environment will be safer from the toxic effects of 1-bromopropane.
The EPA’s News for Trichloroethylene Manufacturers
/in TCE/by Industrial DegreasersSince the 1920s, the halogenated chemical compound trichloroethylene has been used for a variety of purposes around the world, including anesthesia, separation of oil from vegetables, and industrial cleaning. Today, many years after being banned for food uses (1977) and identified as a probable cause of cancer (1987), trichloroethylene is primarily recognized as an industrial solvent that is used for degreasing, spot cleaning, and formulating spray fixatives.
However, even these uses of the toxic solvent appear to be on their way out the door after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provided the following statement via news release in July 2015: “EPA Reaches Agreement with Manufacturer to Stop Use of TCE in Spray Fixative Products Used on Arts and Crafts. EPA also taking regulatory action to reduce exposure to this chemical.”
The statement follows a 2014 statement from the EPA that came from the organization’s final risk assessment of trichloroethylene. In that statement, the EPA clarified that it has “identified health risks from TCE exposures to consumers using spray aerosol degreasers and spray fixatives” and “health risks to workers when TCE is used as a degreaser in small commercial shops and as a stain removing agent in dry cleaning.”
Bad News for Trichloroethylene Manufacturers
The EPA’s findings on trichloroethylene are reminiscent of its findings on asbestos in the 1970s that led to the severe regulation of asbestos and banned the new use of the product in 1989 — a ruling that was later revised to be less stringent. Asbestos is still used in certain capacities in the U.S., and trichloroethylene may have the same future, but large-scale use of the solvent will almost certainly be banned, forcing trichloroethylene manufacturers to find new revenue streams and organizations that use a high volume of the solvent to search out non toxic replacements.
Like asbestos regulations, trichloroethylene regulations will be enforced under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Violators will face as yet to be finalized penalties that could range from escalating fines for repeat violations to the forced, temporary closure of business outfits that remain in violation even after fines are imposed. However, the increasing availability of highly efficacious, non toxic trichloroethylene replacements means that things needn’t come to that point for even the biggest trichloroethylene users.
Good News for Big Trichloroethylene Users
What is bad news for trichlorethylene manufacturers is ultimately good news for large-scale users of the solvent. They may be forced to abandon the use of trichloroethylene for certain applications and significantly curtail its use for others. But, in largely replacing the solution with one or more non toxic solvents, they stand to benefit financially by having a healthier workforce, one that won’t take sick days, file workers compensation claims, or file toxic torts (i.e., chemical injury lawsuits) due to the deleterious effects of trichloroethylene exposure.
The key, of course, is identifying non toxic solvents that work as drop-in replacements for trichloroethylene — a task that should involve the guidance of an experienced supplier of environmentally preferred and environmentally safe solvents, especially for organizations that don’t have a dedicated team of chemists. If your organization needs assistance finding safe trichloroethylene replacements that are as efficacious as the infamous solvent, Ecolink will help.
Contact Us for Toxic Solvent Replacements
Ecolink specializes in providing best in class, eco friendly replacements for toxic solvents such as trichloroethylene. Our non toxic solutions have no EPA listed hazardous ingredients and help our customers avoid costly government fines and the financial fallout that results from chemically injured workers. To identify the best replacement solvents for your unique needs, please call us today at (800) 563-1305, or fill out the contact form on our website.
Four Ways That Using Non Toxic Solvents Can Save Money
/in Solvents/by Industrial DegreasersIndustrial cleaning solvents can be categorized in several ways, one of the most important of which is whether they contain ingredients that are hazardous to human health or have a safe formulation that classifies them as non toxic solvents. Using the latter type of solvents can prevent a variety of negative health conditions that range from acute (e.g., upset stomach and dizziness) to chronic (e.g., nerve damage and cancer). In preventing these maladies, non toxic solvents save organizations money by helping them avoid the following situations.
Acute health conditions that toxic chemical exposure causes can linger for days after the source of exposure is removed. Consequently, it isn’t uncommon for employees who are exposed to the chemicals to take a higher number of sick days than employees who aren’t exposed. Sick days are more than hindrance to productivity in the workplace; they essentially amount to paying employees for not working.
When chemical-related injuries in the workplace lead to extended periods of sickness, the injured often file workers compensation claims. When evidence of injury is obvious and the injured hire an attorney, employers typically have no option but to pay the claim — and paying it can be costly indeed. In addition to paying for wage replacement, the employer often pays for claimants’ medical treatments that the injury necessitates, as well as vocational rehabilitation.
Also known as “toxic torts”, chemical injury lawsuits are frequently filed by employees who work with dangerous chemicals and suffer chronic, poor health as a result. Wikipedia defines a toxic tort as “a particular type of personal injury lawsuit in which the plaintiff claims that exposure to a chemical caused the plaintiff’s injury or disease.”
Depending on the extent of the plaintiff’s injuries and the level of pain and suffering experienced, settling a toxic tort could cost anywhere from a few thousand dollars to many millions more, not including attorney fees. Using non toxic solvents helps companies avoid these lawsuits and the tremendous impact they can have on the bottom line.
Using non toxic chemicals may still require workers to wear personal protective equipment (PPE). However, the “level” of PPE required, as defined OSHA, is often lower than the level of PPE required for working with toxic solvents. Consequently, organizations stand save money on PPE when they replace toxic solvents with non toxic ones. For an explanation of the levels of PPE, see this helpful resource that the United States Department of Labor provides.
Let Us Supply Your Non Toxic Solvents
At Ecolink, we specialize in providing non toxic solvents that have a better safety profile and the same cleaning power as the toxic cleaners they replace. We often think of non toxic solvents as being good for the environment — and they are. But solvents that contain no hazardous ingredients can also help organizations save money in the ways listed above, among others.
If your organization uses toxic solvents that need to be replaced, call us at (800) 563-1305, or refer to the contact page on our website, to get started on finding suitable replacements. We look forward to helping you save money through the use of non toxic solvents.