Substitution of Organic Solvents in Selected Industrial Cleaning Processes

Volatile organic solvents (VOC)are becoming increasingly unwanted in industrial processes. Substitution of VOC with non-volatile, low-toxic compounds is a possibility to reduce VOC-use. It has been successfully demonstrated, that organic solvents used in cleaning processes in sheet offset printing can be replaced with monoesters of fatty acids from vegetable oils (VOFA). The paper describes the selection of other industrial cleaning or degreasing processes where VOC could be replaced by VOFA. Manual degreasing and cleaning processes in metal industry, maintenance and repair of vehicles, and industrial coating processes are likely candidates for substitution of VOC with VOFA. Requirements to the resulting surfaces may, however, hinder the replacement. This is especially important when the surface has to be coated in a subsequent step.