CLEANING – INDUSTRIAL DEGREASING
Driven by regulatory, nancial and business needs,
a new generation of more environmentally-friendly
industrial degreasants is emerging that matches the
performance of traditional hydrocarbon products. It
is giving operators a greener, cleaner choice for their
products and processes
Clean andgreen
All but ubiquitous, industrial
By David Appleyard
degreasants play an
invaluable, if largely invisible,
part in innumerable
manufacturing and industrial
processes. Over the course of its life, any
mechanical moving component in some
form or another will need to be cleaned
or degreased. From OEM production
parts that need to have light cutting oils
and honing oils removed, right through
to refurbishing commercial engines
and everything in between, from food
production to forestry, part washing
and degreasing is used in almost every
industry. There are estimated to be around
100,000 parts washing machines on rental
service contracts in the UK alone.
Typically based on a hydrocarbon
solvent or a heated detergent or caustic
solution, today increasing health and
safety and environmental requirements
are driving the development of a new
generation of sustainable degreasants.
Degreasants fall into a number of
classi cations, but the most commonly
used are hydrocarbon-based organic
and oxygenated solvents with a high
solvency for greases and oils. Such
solvents are widely used in industries such
as engineering, textiles and footwear,
pharmaceuticals, dry cleaning and inks and
paints. They include acetone, toluene and
perchloroethylene, commonly used in the
dry cleaning industry. Traditional solventbased
cleaning machines run products like
kerosene through them.
Solvents are found in many cleaning
and degreasing products, from a DIY
can of brake or clutch cleaner, right up to
industrial manufacturing-scale degreasing
equipment, and cleaning and degreasing
accounts for around a quarter of global
solvent production.
Hot washing machines have some form
of detergent in water and are designed
to work at 65°C to 90°C. Similarly, caustic
cleaning machines – using caustic soda
solutions for example – are also heated.
Enzymatic cleaning technology is
another approach, but is not typically
applied in traditional commercial cleaning
applications. This approach is more
common in specialist areas like the bicycle
industry, which doesn’t create a large
amount of crusted and heavily burnt-on
carbon deposits. However, each of these
technologies presents challenges for the
operations manager.
Products like kerosene and many
other commercially-available solvents are
ammable and toxic hydrocarbons. They
have a high volatile organic compound
(VOC) content, generally speaking at 75%
plus. This presents waste disposal issues,
as well as health and safety considerations.
Personal protective equipment (PPE),
such as gloves and goggles, is vital
when handling and using such products.
Exposure to VOCs from degreasants can
result in irritation of the skin, eyes and
lungs, as well as e ects such as headache
and nausea, possibly even death in high
concentrations. Long-term health e ects
include damage to the central nervous
system, the kidneys, the liver or even
cancer. VOCs can enter the air, water
sources and soil and also contribute to
ground-level ozone in the presence of
sunlight and nitrogen oxides (NOx).
For heated systems, reaching and
maintaining the required temperature of
65°C or more with a, say, 400 litre tank is
costly in terms of energy use, and takes
time. Using perhaps 11 kW or more and 24
hours a day, this process also has potential
health and safety impacts. Such systems
24 www.operationsengineer.org.uk June 2019
/www.operationsengineer.org.uk