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IMFormation February 2008 TRICHLOROETHYLENE – FACT OR FICTION?
Recently various views on the legislation regarding this solvent have been expressed by
a number of organisations. Some of these views are not necessarily accurate leading to
confusion for many people, and it is hoped that the following essential details will be
helpful to readers of IMFormation.
Trichloroethylene as a vapour degreasing solvent
The following guidance has been agreed by a committee consisting of the Surface
Engineering Association, Engineering Employers Federation in association with the
Government Environment and Health & Safety bodies. Whilst controls on the use of
Trichloroethylene (often known as ‘Trike’ or TCE) have been in place for many years,
more stringent controls were introduced from 31 October 2007 and are now in place.
Environmental Legislation
Restrictions on emissions from degreasing tanks have been introduced under the EU
Solvent Emissions Directive (SED). In England and Wales, SED is enforced by Local
Authority Inspectors and for larger users, by the Environment Agency. In Scotland,
SED is enforced by the Scottish Protection Agency (SEPA). SED takes effect at
two levels:
- Lower risk solvents require regulation if consumption exceeds 2 tonnes/year
- Higher risk solvents (known as ‘designated risk phrase materials’) requires local authority PPC regulation if consumption exceeds 1 tonne per year.
Higher risk solvents are those designated as:
- Ahalogenated volatile organic compound (VOC) which is assigned or needs to carry the risk phrase R40
- A substance which is a VOC and which is assigned or needs to carry one or more of the risk phrases R45 , R46, R49, R60 or R61 and
- A preparation which, because it contains substances that are VOCs, is assigned or needs to carry one or more of the risk phrases R45, R46, R40, R60 or R61
Consequently, TCE (which has the risk phrase R45) is classed as a higher risk solvent.
If SED applies, the user has to substitute higher risk solvents in the ‘shortest possible
time’ (see Defra Guidance Note AQ 9(04).
Other European Health and Safety Legislation affecting TCE
TCE is a priority Substance for consideration under the European Union’s Existing
substances Regulation (EC793/93). Following negotiations, a voluntary agreement
(“Charter for the safe use of TCE in metal cleaning “) has been signed by all European
producers of TCE with the commitment that:
- TCE will not be supplied for metal cleaning/degreasing after 2010 unless the user has a closed system (defined in terms of specific types of equipment reference to standard EN 12921 part4 “Safety of machines using halogenated solvents”);
- User companies must give a written undertaking (by 31 Dec 2010) that TCE will be used only and exclusively in closed systems as defined above;
- The full co-operation of EU distributors of TCE in the agreement will be secured; and
- Signatures will fully document the commitments made by suppliers, distributors and users, monitor the progress of the voluntary agreement and report annually to the Commission and Member States.
What is the practical effect of the above?
1. If a degreaser consumes more that 1 tonne of
solvent per year it must have a PPC permit
from the relevant authority or in Scotland from
SEPA by 31 October 2007 and will normally
be expected to have replaced any TCE used by
that date.
In practice, it is expected that a company will
need enclosed degreasing machines in order to
comply, but it is nevertheless envisaged that a
few open-topped machines may be compliant,
depending on their size, utilisation and the
nature of the degreasing work
2. The European supplier’s Charter means
that, from 1 January 2011 all existing
open- topped vapour degreasing machines
using TCE will need to be totally enclosed,
even where the solvent consumption is below
1 tonne per year, and not caught by the PPC
legislation. Engineering companies using
open-topped degreasers are looking for
alternative to TCE. These should preferably
include other lower risk organic solvents or
aqueous degreasing methods.
Thanks are expressed to SEA for permission to circulate the
essential details from the articles published in Watchword.
Health, Safety and Environment
Nickel Guidance Symposium receives
congratulations from across the ‘pond’
Congratulations received from Dr Adriana Oller of
NiPERA laboratories in North Carolina who quotes
‘I think you should be congratulated since the
current urinary results demonstrates quite
significant reductions in overall exposures. From
NiPERA’s point of view we encourage you to
continue this program of regular sampling as a way
of assuring controlled exposures and detecting any
possible control problems if they were to arise’.
Well done to John Healy and colleagues.
Company News and Products
Scott Bader
A new anti-corrosion primer with heat resistant
properties has been introduced by Scott-Bader.
Called Texicryl 13-600, it is a styrene copolymer,
phenol ethoylate free, and possibly the first waterbased
primer of this type to achieve 500 hour salt
spray resistance on a 50 micron single dry film
thickness. Texicryl is also resistant to discolouring
in high humidity conditions, and can withstand
higher temperatures than some other chemistries. It
has high blister resistance to fuels, brake fluids and
coolants and is particularly suited for automotive
applications.
Further information on request from Richard Hirst,
Tel: 01933 666757, Fax: 01933 666525 or email:
Richard_Hirst@scottbader.com
Companies Beware ??? Latest Scam
Thanks to Andrew Swain of Anopol we can draw
your attention to a possible scam or at least to
unethical selling technique, usually a phone call to
the maintenance engineer – ‘I am ringing to thank
you for taking part in our survey and to show our
appreciation we would like to send you a drum of
our new environmentally friendly degreasing agent’
or some other similar words.
The person contacted will most likely assume that
someone else in the company had been contacted.
When requested for an order number, asks why, and
is told that they have had materials refused because
of no order number or quoted as verbal.
Material arrives, and much later an invoice but for a
much larger quantity than that delivered and being
charged for. The name of the company has not been
tracked other than it appears that the company name
contains the word ‘chemical – Is this a Scam?
The above is only a abstract of the document produced by
Andrew who would be interested in hearing from others who
may have had similar experience Tel: 0121 632 6888
Midland Deburr & Finish Ltd
Provides a cost-effective solution to companies
wishing to sub-contract ‘dirty processes –
deburring, mechanical finishing, degreasing and
cleaning using up-to-date equipment. ISO 9001
compliant and is currently working towards
ASEN9100 and Nadcap accreditation.
Further information please contact Chris
Arrowsmith on Tel: 01384 891198
Tecan Metal Finishing
Three members of staff from the Weymouth-based
Tecan have achieved high praise from the IMF in
achieving distinction grade in the examination
following study of the Foundation Module in Metal
Finishing and Surface Coating.
Seamus Bourke, Division Manager is proud of the
of James Hope, John-Paul Latham and Joe Pheby,
for their achievement and proposes to enrol them
on the ‘Technician Course’ with the aim of achieving the professional grade of TechIMF’
REACH Tin Metal Consortium
Membership of this consortium continues to grow as
companies are working together in order to
minimise the costs and resource requirements of
dealing with the complex requirements of REACH,
and the number of members has been increasing
since the group was formed in October. Membership
is open to any company.
ITRI is acting as the Secretariat of the consortium,
and runs the technical programme, managing the
administration of the group.
Companies who are interested in joining the
REACH consortium for tin metal or discussing the
activity of inorganic tin chemical compounds,
should contact Kay Nimmo – Tel: ++44 (0) 1727
871 312 or by email at: kay.nimmo@itri.co.uk
IMF News
REACH ‘Club’
Delegates who attended the REACH symposium on
9 October 2007 will remember the discussion on the
possibility of IMF setting up a ‘Club’ similar to the
one set up on IPPC by the SEA some time ago.
As a result, an initial meeting was held at Exeter
House in mid December which attracted a good
cross section of members and a general consensus of
opinion that it would very helpful for
members/member companies in attempting to wade
through the vast amount of paper work available.
A second meeting was held on 7 January and it was
agreed by all that the meetings were going to be of
great benefit, as the impacts of the legislation were
different from end users and supply house
perspective and each will learn from each other.
Many points were raised during the meeting which
it is hoped can be addressed for discussion at the
next meeting.
There is no cost for attendance at what will be
monthly meetings at Exeter House (even the supply
of a buffet lunch) Interested ? – Next meeting
Thursday 7 February. Contact Ken Hoare at Exeter
House Tel: 0121 622 7387 or email the IMF on:
Exeterhouse@instituteofmetalfinishing.org
IMF News
Due to unforeseen circumstances the 12 February
Symposium & Exhibition on Surface Preparation
and Pre-treatment has been cancelled. It is proposed
to run this event later in the year. Watch this space.
20 March at Old Silhilians Sport &
Social Club, Knowle
Joint meeting with OCCA. Talk by Paul Griffiths
(Schloetter Co. Ltd) entitled ‘Unusual
applications for paint’ commencing at 6.30 pm.
All welcome.
Next Organic Finishing Group/Midland
Branch event
13 May 2008
‘Application and Curing’
One-day symposium and tabletop exhibition
Further details and brochure will be available
shortly from Exeter House, Tel: 0121 622 7387
Southern Branch
Wednesday 2 April 2008
Health and Nickel – All you need to know
Mini Evening Symposium, Tour and Exhibition
To be held at
ITT Canon, Basingstoke
Provisional details:Exhibition and Tour 6.00–7.00 pm
Presentations: 7.00 pm followed by buffet
Provisional Cost: Delegate £12.00, Exhibitor £25.00
Further details from Clive Arnold at BAE Systems
Tel: 02392 226128, Fax: 02392 or 02392 226001 or
by e-mail: clivearnold@baesystems.com
New Members
Students
Brooks, Iain - University of Toronto
Khedkar, Brijesh - Newcastle University
Li, Yanhong - University of Portsmouth
Affiliates
Brain, Ani Zhecheva - Sifco Applied
Cree, Alistair - Britania Royal Naval
Coll.
Kenny, William - BMT, Port Glasgow
Pollett, Bruno - Alkene Chemical
Solution
Sahrhage, Holger - Coventya GmbH
Card, Andrew - Grimshaw, Neil
Hobbs, Martin Lockett, Sarah
Nicholas, Anthony O’Shea, Peter
(All at Seagate Technology, Northern Ireland)
New Sustaining Member Companies
Apple Shopfronts Ltd
29 Sussex Street
Sheffield S4 7YY
Tel: 01142 014144,
Email: sales@appleshopfronts.com
A complete architectural shopfront service is
provided with in-house design and manufacturing
facilities. We have in-house powder coating
facility as well as providing anodised finishes.
Midland Deburr and Finish Ltd
Unit 5 Lye Valley Industrial Estate
Bromley Street, Lye
West Midlands DY9 8HX
Tel: 01384 891198, Fax: 01384 891911
Email: midlanddeburrandfinish.co.uk
Midland Deburr and Finish specialise in
subcontract solvent degreasing. Vibro deburring
and barrelling processes are also available to
remove sharp edges from ferrous and
non-ferrous components.
Examination Results
Automotive Surface Finishing
BMW – October 2007
Bower, Christopher * Bushby, Ian
Elmey, Martin * Green, Darren #
Harris, Lee Oakman, Christopher
Parsons, Lee Rapley, Lee *
Rushton, Andrew # Stickley, Andrew *
* pass with merit # pass with distinction
Out and About
11 - 12 March - Waterbourne and High Solids
Coatings Conference. Brussels
Details: www.pra.org.uk/conferences
11 – 14 March - Paint Expo ~ International Trade
Fair for Industrial Coating Technology, Karlruhe
Germany. Details: www.paintexpo.de
31 March – 4 April. SITS – Surface Treatment
Technology. Paris. Details: www.sits.com
21 – 25 April. MACH 2008. NEC, Birmingham
Details: Tel: 020 7298 6400
22 – 24 April. SUBCON 2008. NEC, Birmingham
Details: www.subconshow.co.uk
NAMTEC (National Netals Technology Centre)
Short courses for 2008
06 February Metallurgy for Non Metallurgists
11 March Introduction to Heat Treatment
18 March Heat Treatment for H T Professionals
22 April Titanium Metallurgy
28 April MSc Steel Products and Applications
Details: Beartriz Jackson, Tel: 01709 723 591
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