Cleaning and Degreasing

As with many facilities that maintain air or ground equipment, the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen, Puerto Rico uses parts cleaners in both its Aviation and Facilities Engineering departments. In order to reduce its usage of solvents and generation of hazardous waste, the Aviation department replaced its old parts washer with a closed loop, self-recycling solvent-based parts washer. The generation of hazardous waste is reduced to the filters. To reduce equipment and hazardous materials costs, the Facilities Engineering department installed a biobased aqueous parts cleaner, which reduced air emissions and hazardous waste generation. The contracted parts washer service required a quarterly replacement of solvent, which increased annual hazardous waste generation and associated costs. A check of maintenance requirements revealed that there was no requirement for solvent-based cleaning. This also helped significantly with the decision because it meant that the engineering department would not require tow different units for the shop. They found that they would be able to bring down costs, reduce hazardous waste generation and increase the safety of maintenance personnel by going the environmentally friendly rout with a biobased parts cleaner. After researching options and contacting others using biobased parts washers, the engineering department of Air Station Borinquen decided on a Smart washer from Chemfree Corporation of Norcross, Georgia. The product is available under GSA contract. At the time of purchase, the unit cost about $1200, which was cheaper than the yearly cost for the lease with servicing. Since then, the purchase has more than paid for itself. The equipment cleans a little slower than a harsh solvent, but the facility has concluded that the benefits far outweigh any perceived loss of efficiency. For more information, please contact Walter W. (Billy) Moore, Jr. at (787)890-8438 or Wmoore@airstaborinquen.uscg.mil.

The DOE's Pacific Northwest Laboratory in Richland, Washington amended its janitorial contract to require the use of environmentally preferable cleaning products and gave preference to products that used minimal packaging or reusable containers. The use of green cleaning products saves approximately $1,500 annually. For more information, visit http://www.pnl.gov/esp/greenguide/custodialproducts/ or contact Sandra D. Cannon at (509) 529-1535, sandra.cannon@pnl.gov.

The Marine Corps Logistics Base in Barstow, CA uses a Mini-Max cleaner to clean parts, replacing the use of many solvents. The Mini-Max cleaner is self-contained, portable, and contains an internal heating chamber. A pump draws liquid from any container into the superheated chamber. A mixture of de-ionized or distilled water and Arma-Sol®, a non-hazardous cleaning solution, is converted into high-pressure, dry steam. The steam is forced out through the nozzle of a hose directly onto the part to be cleaned. Through moisture, temperature, and pressure, the steam removes contaminants from surfaces and dries on contact, thus reducing drying time and spotting. Because the Mini-Max Cleaner® is self-contained and uses steam instead of solvents, no wastewater is generated during use, and only a small amount of hazardous waste requires disposal. For more information, visit http://www.nelp.navy.mil/nelp_guide_4/p2/mini-max.htm, or contact Manny Bay at (760) 577-6523, baymb@barstow.usmc.mil.

The DOE's Argonne National Laboratory - East in Illinois partnered with two private companies to conduct a pilot project to evaluate the use of "green solvents" within typical machine shop parts cleaning and degreasing operations. Safety-Kleen, Inc. provided several models of its parts cleaning and degreasing machines, and Vertec Solvents, LLC provided several drums of Vertec Gold™ 50, a non-toxic biobased solvent blend derived from corn and soybeans. Shop machinists washed and degreased parts in the solvent blend-ethyl lactate and soy methyl ester-and after 10 weeks of use, the spent solvent was analyzed and distilled for its recoverability.

The ensuing report found that the biobased solvent met all of the applicable performance standards and that it could also be recovered and recycled with relative ease. Argonne also concluded that Vertec Gold™ 50 was far superior in performance because it was more effective, required less time to clean parts and required no special procedures or management compare to traditional hydrocarbon based solvents. The report did find drawbacks including a more detectable odor and a longer required drying time; however there was a unanimous consensus among the Central Shop's machinists that Vertec Gold™ 50 was preferred over other parts cleaners.

For more information, visit http://www.anl.gov/P2/green_solvents.htm or contact Keith Trychta at (630) 252-1476, ktrychta@anl.gov.

The Marine Corps base in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina substituted less hazardous chemicals for hazardous ones. The base uses a new paint stripper in place of methylene chloride. It has also replaced its solvent degreaser with a new one that is non-carcinogenic, non-photochemically reactive, and has both a low vapor pressure and a high flashpoint. For more information, visit http://www.lejeune.usmc.mil/emd/ or contact Tony A. Best at (910) 451-0150, bestta@lejeune.usmc.mil.