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Chemicals are an integral part of nearly every business, large or small. They are used in almost every workplace, from industrial descaling to the cleaning of coffee machines. Health, Safety and Environmental professionals tackle the inherent hazards of using chemicals in the workplace with better education, clear labelling and classifications, protective equipment, enhanced training and better awareness of the potential dangers. These are all imperatives, and over the past decades, this area of health and safety has taken huge strides forward.
But what of the technological advances in the chemicals themselves? What if we could make the chemicals we use inherently safer while keeping the beneficial properties they offer? These are the questions that led to the development of the first-of-its-kind product Caflon® Safe RHC.
“We identified the desire from various industries to minimise the hazardous exposure levels, corrosion rates and negative HS&E properties compared with Hydrochloric Acid.”
“This was apparent from the increasing consumption of organic acids that typically have a more favourable HS&E profile,” says Markus Weissenberger, Chief Technical Officer for the company that developed the product, Fluid Energy.
A cutting-edge alternative to traditional, highly hazardous commodity acids and alkali products like hydrochloric acid and caustic soda, the possible application areas are many and match those of any conventional acid or alkali.
What makes it so unique is that Caflon Safe RHC was designed with its HS&E properties in mind. It has an exceptional safety profile compared to conventional acids – non-hazardous, non-toxic, non-corrosive to dermal tissue, low-fuming and one hundred per cent biodegradable.
Markus goes on to explain, “The activation energy present in Caflon Safe is distinct from hydrochloric acid, giving it major advantages such as low corrosion rates, low fuming effect and dermal protection. Hydrochloric acid has no activation barriers, as hydrogen chloride in an aqueous solution dissociates completely, and the hydrogen proton is thus free to react aggressively with all molecules that it comes into contact with.”
Does the increased safety come at a cost to the efficacy? Well, in short, there is no trade-off. When applied to a task such as the descaling of pipes, Caflon Safe outperforms conventional descaling agents, offering exceptional cleaning performance. Tests show that it has the power to solubilise and clean substantial scale build-up, surpassing the effectiveness of traditional acids. In addition, the modifications to the acid increase its material compatibility. Caflon Safe is proven to have lower corrosion rates when tested against conventional chemistries. Safety professionals looking for powerful and safer alternatives to traditional high-risk acids need to look no further than Caflon Safe. Caflon Safe is manufactured and readily available for multiple industrial applications throughout Europe through Univar Solutions. Univar Solutions has a standing distribution, blending and production agreement with Fluid Energy Group.
