Trichlorethylene Alternative for Degreasing Steel

Hi Guest,

A little more information about why you want to get away from Trichlorethylene would be helpful.

Is it due to cost, VOC emissions etc. This will enable others more qualified than me to make suggestions that do not have the same drawbacks as the material you are using now.

Good luck!

Yes the reasons for getting away from degreasing with Trichlorethylene is the voc emissions.

Here in the UK and Europe Trichlorethylene has been banned as a degreaser since 1977, the reason being that it is one of the chemicals that can cause cancers. Blood cancer being the most extreme, this is because if it comes into contact with your skin it will be absorbed by the body. It was also noted in the early 1970s that people who were working with Trichlorethylene suffered from a loss of brain matter if they inhaled the substance long term. You should stop using it as soon as possible, try Methyl alchol instead.

Spencer.

Good point Zaphod2Headed

Denatured Alcohol was the recommended solvent to clean steel for painting.

Trico was one of the best depressant/cleaner that I have used. I can remember dropping carburettors in a trico bath overnight and next day blowing it through with compressed air.......no problems most times.

Trico is a prescribed liquid, e.g. it is banned or its use is very restricted, and has been for many years in Australia. Same as many refrigerants, including R12 and halogens.Unfortunately this has meant the loss of one of the best extinguishing agents we ever had; they do still use them in aircraft however.

Another problem arises which means CFCs and HFCs being banned in most of the Western world, I believe that use of these products in most Asian countries still goes on unmitigated. I would like to be proved incorrect in this last statement if any one has up to date information on this particular point.

MOBI this I believe is true: "Another problem arises which means CFCs and HFCs being banned in most of the Western world, I believe that use of these products in most Asian countries still goes on unmitigated."
But we have to start acting like a leader of the free world again. Our enormous economy counts for 24% of the problem added to the rest of the agreeing nations, 55%= 79%, a very good start.
{In 2004 September, Russia accepted it [BBC], making the protocol legally binding internationally, amid praise from the UK Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett and the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Russia accounts for 17% of the 1990 levels of global greenhouse emissions, and now in total over 55% of all greenhouse gases are accounted for internationally, which was the original aim. It is fairly obvious to many people that the commercial, money-orientated USA will care more for dollars than for worldwide health, and will probably continue to oppose and hinder the protocol. We can only hope that it caves in, that somehow the rest of the world can get through to the secluded American public and their government be forced to change its stance.}

tubenut, 55% of all greenhouse is quite an interesting article, thanks for that.

Up until the Federal Election a couple of weeks ago Australia was also a non Bush's to the Kyoto Protocol. Things will change because Bush's friend little Johnny Howard is no longer the Prime Minister of Australia. One of first things our new Labour PM (Kevin Rudd) has done is to take steps to ratify Kyoto. This should be interesting, seeing that Australia is the largest exporter of coal in world.......to Asia,and coal is one of the worst pollutants re global warming. I might add that per capita Australia is up near the top of the worlds worst polluters.

I seldom need to degrease anything in my line of work, but as a chemist I would guess that "mineral spirits" (low-boiling petroleum distillates) would dissolve grease. Mineral spirits would have fewer toxicity issues than trichlorethylene, but its high flammability might cause concern.

Schaeffer (216-401-1845) has a degreaser that is safe on your skin, biodegradeable, nn -fuming, water soluable.

Since it's aluminized steel, therefore probably not subject to rusting quickly, is there some reason you couldn't use detergent and hot water? Just dry off once the oil is gone. Heavy deposits can be removed with pressure washers.

There are quite good commercially available detergents for just such a situation. This at least gets you away from hydrocarbons, flammability and various health hazards.

Unsure of your location, so availability may vary, but there are several citrus-based (orange peel oil) cleaners like Fresh Orange that work wonders with none of the chlorinated solvent hazards. Also, a product called Simple Green with hot water will do the job. So will Dawn dish soap. So will Pine-Sol. Turpentine too, but it's harder on the people using it than the others. Stoddard solvent is an old stand-by, too. Hope this helps, hope you can find these products.

Hi, as mech eng at a steel processing plant, I frequently use NAPTHA for de-greasing parts. It evaporates quickly and has a low flash point. For best results I use a air siphon gun for rinsing & then dry with compressed air.

Luck!

Naptha and/or Var-sol (Exxon proprietary name)

"Light naphtha, a mixture consisting mainly of straight-chained and cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons having from five to nine carbon atoms per molecule. Heavy naphtha, a mixture consisting mainly of straight-chained and cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons having from seven to nine carbons per molecule."

"Mineral Spirits also called Stoddard solvent, is a petroleum distillate commonly used as a paint thinner and mild solvent. In Europe, it is referred to as white spirit. In industry, mineral spirits is used for cleaning and degreasing machine tools and parts"

Aha, so my earlier suggestion of using "mineral spirits" (very similar in composition to naphtha) makes some sense. Excerpts above came from Wikipedia.

How many parts?

How big are they?

We make pressed metal parts that were originally to be cleaned with Trico, but we have convinced the customer that "vapour degreasing" is a satisfactory process.

It's almost a closed system, so solvent is constantly recovered. Cleans press lubricant off wonderfully and the process effectively provides a continued source of "distilled" solvent.

Works great! just look up "vapour degreasing".