Environmental Issues

Ozone-Safe Cleaners and S.N.A.P. Approvals
- Background: The Montreal Protocol Protects the Ozone Layer

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

Ozone-Safe Cleaners and S.N.A.P. Approvals

All of the MicroCare fluids and the DuPont Vertrel^® specialty fluids and their ingredients are completely safe for stratospheric ozone. They have been reviewed under the auspices of the Significant New Alternatives Program at the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection, which is the official government process to replace ozone-depleting chemicals with ozone-safe alternatives. The E.P.A. has approved all of these cleaners for the marketplace as ideal replacements for ozone-depleting solvents such as CFC-113, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, HCFC-141b and HCFC-225, as well as high-global-warming solvents such as perfluorocarbons (PFCs).

The Bromothane^™ solvents are slight – VERY slight – ozone-depleting solvents but are not listed as ozone-depleting substances in the Montreal Protocol. (In the 1980s, when the experts were tabulating all of the world's ozone-depleting solvents, nobody was using nPB as a solvent. It just fell through the cracks.) So it is technically correct to say that nPB is not listed as an ozone-depleting solvent ("O.D.S.") and it is not a "Class II" ozone-depleting material as listed in the Montreal Protocol. But the more precise truth is to report that nPB has a slight ozone-depletion potential. According to the EPA:

"At the latitude of the US, nPB has an ozone depletion potential (ODP) of 0.013 to 0.018… nPB may contribute to smog and is regulated as a volatile organic compound.”

Source: http://www.epa.gov/ozone/snap/solvents/2007nPBRegsQA.html

The INIST-CNRS in France concurs:

"A number of the compounds proposed as replacements for substances controlled under the Montreal Protocol have extremely short atmospheric lifetimes, on the order of days to a few months. An important example is n-propyl bromide (also referred to as 1-bromopropane, CH2BrCH2CH3 or simplified as 1-C3H7Br or nPB). This compound, useful as a solvent, has an atmospheric lifetime of less than 20 days due to its reaction with hydroxyl.

"Because nPB contains bromine, any amount reaching the stratosphere has the potential to affect concentrations of stratospheric ozone. The definition of Ozone Depletion Potentials (ODP) needs to be modified for such short-lived compounds to account for the location and timing of emissions. It is not adequate to treat these chemicals as if they were uniformly emitted at all latitudes and longitudes as normally done for longer-lived gases. Thus, for short-lived compounds, policymakers will need a table of ODP values instead of the single value generally provided in past studies.

"The MOZART2 nPB [model] indicates a minimal correction of the two-dimensional results in order to derive our final results: an nPB chemical lifetime of 19 days and an Ozone Depletion Potential range of 0.033 to 0.040 for assumed global emissions over landmasses, 19 days and 0.021 to 0.028, respectively, for assumed emissions in the industrialized regions of the Northern Hemisphere, and 9 days and 0.087 to 0.105, respectively, for assumed emission in tropical Southeast Asia."

Background: The Montreal Protocol Protects the Ozone Layer

The Montreal Protocol specifies the phase-out of ozone-depleting substances. The general phase-out schedules were defined years ago. This effort was based on research by British scientists in the 1960s which detected changes in the ozone layer in the Antarctic.

It took almost another decade to figure out the cause, and it was Mario Molina, a lowly post-graduate researcher in California, who first realized that man-made chemicals such as CFCs were damaging the ozone layer. Fortunately his mentor, Sherwood Rowland, took his findings seriously and the pair went on to publish an article in 1974 in which they spelled out the dangers of continued use of CFCs. Dr. Molina went on to win a Nobel prize for his efforts.

In the 1980s, in response to the depletion of the ozone layer, more than 100 nations worked together on a treaty called the Montreal Protocol. This treaty set the rules for eliminating ozone-depleting substances around the globe. For more details about the ozone depletion issue, global warming and VOCs, visit the United Nations web site, the Earthwatch web site, the GreenPeace web site, and others.)

MicroCare Cleaning Fluids and Global Warming

The MicroCare fluids and the Vertrel fluids do have a global warming impact, although it is slight. This means that these fluids are a good, balanced, safe, nonflammable, middle-of-the-road choice when compared to the major global warming chemicals (such as halogenated fire supressants and fully-fluorinated solvents like PFCs). It also means that the Vertrel^® products are good replacements for the flammable high VOC products, such as alcohols.

The Bromothane^™ cleaners are not a major contributor to global warming. The current estimate of the GWP for nPB is zero (0). This is because the liquids break down in sunlight in 16-19 days, so they never have time to affect the climate.

Here are the details:

Global Warming Potential for Popular Vertrel^® Blends

Product (100 yr ITH)	GWP
Vertrel^® MCA Plus	650
Vertrel^® MCA	806
Vertrel^® SMT	688
Vertrel^® XB3	1261
Vertrel^® XDA	1292
Vertrel^® XF	1300
Vertrel^® XM	1222
Vertrel^® XMS Plus	662
Vertrel^® XP	1258
Vertrel^® XSi	741

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

Many chemicals that do not contribute to global warming have short atmospheric lifetimes (measured in days, weeks or months). These are called volatile organic compounds or "VOCs". VOC content is expressed in grams/liter, so normal alcohol has a VOC rating of 740 g/L. Other high VOC cleaners include alcohols, ketones, hydrocarbons and many other classes of chemicals.

Almost without exception, VOCs are photochemically reactive. This means they contribute to ground-level air pollution (politely called "smog").

Many solvents are VOCs, but many other common chemicals and even household products also have a high VOC content. In general, chemicals that have high VOC ratings do not contribute to global warming. Low VOC ratings generally mean a chemical is likely to have a high GWP. It's like a child's teeter-totter: one when side goes up, the other side must go down. It is almost impossible for a chemical to have both a low VOC and a low GWP, and the few cleaners that accomplish this trick are flammable.

In general, the Bromothane^™ cleaners have a VOC content of 100%, also expressed at 1,322 g/L. This makes them an unacceptable choice in some communities with rigid VOC regulations, such as Southern California with their CARB and SCAQMD regulations.

In contrast, the MicroCare and Vertrel^® products have varying degrees of VOC materials in their formulations. Some Vertrel^® products have zero VOCs.

It's also important to realize that those VOC regulations assume the solvent is going to be leaked into the atmosphere. In the old days, they were probably right. But with today's tight vapor degreasers and MicroCare's excellent product stewardship program, solvent losses are limited to a few ounces or pounds per week. So, with the right procedures and the right equipment, the VOC issue is a red-herring.