Degreasing chemical and millipore test
As engineers, we take pride in ourselves that we do ‘real work’. We get our hands dirty and get the job done! I am proud of that fact too, I never shy away, in fact, I look forward to visiting customers and showing them the state of their process fluids by rolling up my sleeves and dipping my hands in the dirty, oily, slimy fluids.
I would like to share an experience during one of my recent visits to a leading two-wheeler manufacturer, the plant manager shared a peculiar problem that they were facing, they were using several component washing machines in which an alkaline (Ph > 7) solution was used(These component washing machines are used to clean parts before assembly and testing), the challenge was that the parts that were cleaned in these machines were failing the Millipore test.
Below is the image of the state of degreasing chemical that they were using.
The plant manager was shocked to see these results, as no oil was used in the cleaning process. The observation was terrifying.
Before we interacted, the two-wheeler manufacturer had already found a solution to use a degreaser which was imported, which claimed to be the best in the market. Using this, they did solve their problem to some extent. However, they realized that the service life of these imported chemicals was very short since proper filtration and oil separation systems were not in place. Hence, they were not only paying a premium to achieve desired cleaning results but on the flip side, their consumable costs were increasing. Below are the results that we could achieve with our solution.
I am happy to share that, not only did the life of the desgreasing solution increase by 64% but also the company was able to save on costs by using other chemicals which were giving better results.
Component washing or degreasing is a very important process in the manufacturing process. Any component that gets assembled in a car or bike engine, a compressor, or any machine which has moving parts, gets thoroughly washed using industrial-grade degreasing chemicals or degreasers. They remove any dirt, dust, grease, and oxidation contamination to ensure corrosion resistance, avoid slipping hazards, overheating, increased electrical resistance in contact areas, etc.
These dirt particles find their way in the degreasing chemicals forming dangerous sludge and rendering the chemical useless. The most common method to solve this issue which is prevalent in the industry is to change the bath and add fresh chemicals.
However, engineers tend to overlook the fact that these degreasers commonly consist of N-Propyl Bromide (nPB), Trichloroethylene (TCE), and Perchloroethylene (Perc) which are highly toxic chemicals to provide cleaning performance. When the bath is changed,these toxic chemicals are either discarded in the ETP or in some cases (especially in India) they are allowed to flow directly in sewage drains or rivers! Hence, extending the life of these chemicals is in everybody’s interest.
One might wonder, why don’t the component washing machine manufacturers provide good quality oil separation and filtration systems?The answer to this question needs a little introspection on the part of the user companies. Will they pay extra if the machine manufacturer tells them that he is charging more for the state of the art equipment? The answer to that question may not be as straight forward as one might expect. That is just one aspect, the other one being that even the machine manufacturer may not be aware of any better systems. However, this is not a universal truth, some machine manufacturers like Cleantech Systems are environmentally conscious and offer nothing but the best systems along with their machines.
In conclusion, it is the collective responsibility of everyone in the manufacturing ecosystem to ensure that the problem of harmful sludges from component washing solutions is tackled before it assumes dangerous proportions.