Letter 19058 Replacement of trichlorethylene in vapor degreasing of steel sheets / pipes   +++ We use trichlorethylene as a vapor degreasing agent in our plant for steel sheets/pipes. I understand that there is going to be a ban on the use of trichlorethylene. I would like to know whether there is any direct replacement of this chemical possible with the same equipment? or there would be total replacement of equipment required? I would be thankful for any answers on this. Pravin Attarde - Muscat, Oman +++ N-propyl bromide is pretty close to being a direct replacement, but is very expensive. Many shops have converted to aqueous cleaning, but that is, of course, not without pitfalls itself. Ted Mooney, P.E.  finishing.com Brick, New Jersey   +++ I have not heard that TCE will be prohibited. Of course nPB can directly replace it without modification of vapor degreaser. But the price of nPB is more expensive. If you can keep the workshop under good ventilation, TCE is still a good solvent for removal of oil and grease from metal parts. Eric Ng - Hong Kong +++ If your vapor degreasing machine does not emit any vapors, there will be no problems. Here in California, we were excluded from the ban because our machine did not emit any vapors. Alvin Kok - Oakland, CA, USA +++ Most of the degreasers built for TCE in the last 20 years have very poor solvent vapor containment. TCE has always been an inexpensive material and the manufacturers have not had any motivation to reduce consumption. Modern equipment designs can reduce emissions from vapor degreasers by up to 90% in some cases making TCE emissions much less and the workshop concentrations of TCE very small indeed. The practice of inducing a forced ventilation just made the emissions from poorly designed degreasers worse and only moved the problem outside the workplace. Don Adams - Sydney, Australia March 3, 2008 we are using the TCE for vapor degreasing. since as i am know now only the Trichlorethylene is banned. in any solvent/chemical replacing it. i want to know the full details/suppliers/characteristics of the replaced solvent and all details. if any one provide it it will be helpful to me. moorthi subramani supervisor - mumbai, Maharashtra, India ^-- I want to contact this person and my company is a supporting advertiser of finishing.com Dear Reader, please -- Answer or follow-up on this subject (in non-commercial fashion).   Post a new question or inquiry on a different subject.

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