Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
aerosol propellants in the 1950s and 1960s (ATSDR, 2005; R.E. Doherty, personal communication,
2007). The majority of these uses of carbon tetrachloride was discontinued before 1970; some pesti-
cide formulations included carbon tetrachloride until 1986. The regulation of ozone-depleting chemi-
cals through the Montreal Protocol and the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, as well as bans by the
Food and Drug Administration and other regulators on the basis of carcinogenicity, has led to the
complete phaseout of carbon tetrachloride use (ATSDR, 2005; Morrison et al., 2006).
1.1.1.1.2 Trichloroethylene
TCE has been used in a multitude of applications (Shepherd, 1962; Irwin et al., 1997; Doherty, 2000a;
European Chemicals Bureau, 2000b; HSIA, 2001; Mohr, 2001; ATSDR, 2005; Morrison et al., 2006):
•
Dry cleaning, leather cleaning, and scouring wool
•
Vapor degreasing of metal furniture, fabricated metal products, electric and electronic
equipment, and military and transport equipment
Cleaning liquid oxygen and hydrogen tanks in aerospace and other operations
•
•
A carrier solvent for the active ingredients of insecticides
•
A solvent in the rubber industry
•
Adhesive formulations
•
A solvent in printing inks, paints, lacquers, varnishes, adhesives, and paint strippers
•
A solvent for dissolving and applying resin and rust-preventive coatings that dry as solvents
vaporize
A solvent in the pulp and paper industry
•
•
A solvent in the textile industry for spotting l uids and as a solvent in waterless dyeing and
i nishing
A solvent base for metal phosphatizing systems used to prepare metal surfaces for rust
•
protection and painting
A solvent in specialty glass production
•
•
A component of household cleaners and consumer automotive products
•
A component of drain cleaners and septic tank cleaners
•
A component of metal polishes
•
An extraction solvent for natural fats and oils such as palm, coconut, and soybean oils
•
An extraction solvent for spices and hops and for removing caffeine from coffee
•
A vapor-phase sterilizing agent for canned foods
•
A solvent for the preparation of cosmetics
•
A solvent for the preparation of pharmaceuticals
•
An insecticidal grain fumigant
•
An anesthetic in veterinary and medical procedures
The use of TCE as a skin, wound, and surgical disinfectant and as an inhalation anesthetic for
childbirth and other short-duration medical procedures was banned in the regulations issued by the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1977 (ATSDR, 2005). In some developing nations, TCE
continues to be used as an anesthetic even today. Because pharmaceutical grade TCE is no longer
produced, industrial and reagent grades are used instead to substitute for more expensive anesthetic
agents (Totonidis, 2005).
Metal degreasing consumed up to 80% of all TCE in European markets in the 1980s; similar
consumption patterns were also present in North America in the 1970s (Doherty, 2000b; European
Chemicals Bureau, 2004). In the 1950s and 1960s, TCE was used for aluminum degreasing in the
United States, where chemists, for the major solvent producers, had worked out successful stabiliza-
tion formulae. In Europe, however, reports of “spontaneous decomposition” of TCE, when used for
vapor degreasing of aluminum parts, rel ect a disparity in the art of stabilization of TCE between
European and American solvent producers in that timeframe (Shepherd, 1962).
Search WWH ::
Custom Search