New Guidance on Storage and Handling for Chlorinated Solvents

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The European Chlorinated Solvent Association (ECSA) has released the 4th edition of the Guidance on Storage and Handling of Chlorinated Solvents. It is intended to help distributors and users of chlorinated solvents to handle those products safely and with care. Special attention has been given to modern equipment in storage as well as to cleaning machines.

The first ECSA Guidance on Storage and Handling has been issued in the Eighties of the last century. It has been updated several times since then, thus contributing to the protection of human health and the environment.

Since the issue of the 3rd edition of this guidance, in 2000, additional care has been taken to illustrate modern equipment in surface and dry cleaning for a safe & sustainable use of chlorinated solvents. In this 4th edition, the storage part of this guidance has been adapted with recommendations to the use of state-of-the-art equipment.

ECSA strongly recommends the use of modern closed equipment of Best Available Technology (BAT). The use of modern equipment could increase the cleaning efficiency of a solvent molecule by a factor of 20 and more. The cleaning efficiency of chlorinated solvents used in modern equipment is currently unmatched because of the unique recycling properties of chlorinated solvents. This heavily increases the eco-efficiency of the chlorinated solvents.

The ECSA Guidance on Storage and Handling is accessible online: www.eurochlor.org/ECSA

 

Further information:
ECSA - European Chlorinated Solvent Association, Dr. Wolfgang Marquardt
Tel: +32 2 676 72 28, E-mail: ECSA@cefic.be , Website : www.eurochlor.org/ecsa

Footnote to Editors:
About ECSA (European Chlorinated Solvent Association):

ECSA represents the interests of the producers of chlorinated solvents in the EU that are organized under Euro Chlor. Euro Chlor is the Brussels based business association representing chlor-alkali producers in the EU and EFTA regions, employing 39,000 people at nearly 70 manufacturing sites.

Almost 2,000,000 jobs in Europe are related to chlorine and its co-product caustic soda. These two key chemical building blocks underpin 55% of the European chemical industry turnover.

More than 90% of the European drinking water is made safe with chlorine and about 85 % of all medicines are synthesized using chlorine chemistry. Euro Chlor is an affiliate of Cefic - the European Chemical Industry Council.