New study compares vapour degreasing solvents

EnSolv is reported as having been shown to be one of the safest of all the commercially available alternatives to Trichloroethylene for vapour degreasing

EnSolv is reported as having been shown to be one of the safest of all the commercially available alternatives to Trichloroethylene for vapour degreasing.

EnviroTech International, manufacturers of the EnSolv precision cleaning solvent, a patented, stabilised n-propyl bromide (nPB) based vapour degreasing solvent, have extended the unique series of in vitro human bioassay tests, originally published in 2001, which compared nPB, and the formulated EnSolv solvent, with commonly used chlorinated solvents, to include other recently introduced halogenated vapour degreasing solvents based on fluorine chemistry.

These tests are part of the on-going product stewardship programme for EnSolv, sponsored by EnviroTech.

International Safety standards for cleaning solvents are complex and raise many contentious issues.

Vapour degreasing is very widely used as the process of choice for industries where critical cleaning is required.

Many new solvents have been introduced which have been designed to address factors such as VOC, flammability, cleaning efficiency and most importantly operator safety.

Choosing the right solvent is becoming more difficult with the increased choices available.

In a new report, the authors detail the results of the in vitro human cell bioassay studies using techniques developed by Enviromed Laboratories with Dr Khosrow Adeli of the University of Toronto Hospital for Sick Children, which assess the results and produce a comparative rating for the solvents according to their toxicity for human cells.

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