Honeywell’s low-global-warming solvent, Solstice Performance Fluid (PF), has received a favorable designation from a California regulatory agency.
California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), which maintains some of the highest standards for air quality in the US, has determined that Solstice PF is not a volatile organic compound (VOC) that will contribute to smog and granted the new solvent an exemption from its VOC regulations.
Honeywell has introduced Solstice PF as an effective, environmentally preferable alternative to HCFC-225, a common solvent in use today that is being phased out by regulation beginning Jan. 1, 2015.
The EPA granted Solstice PF an exemption from federal VOC regulations last year.
Solstice PF solvent can be used to clean oils, greases and other substances from metal and plastic parts used in many cleaning applications, including electronics and aerospace manufacturing. Solstice PF also helps solvent users comply with increasingly strict environmental requirements. It has a global warming potential (GWP) of 1, which is significantly lower than the GWPs of the most commonly used solvents today, including HCFC-225, HFC-4310mee and HFE-7100.
The solvent is nonflammable per ASTM E681 testing. It also has an occupational exposure limit (OEL) of 800 parts per million (ppm), which compares very favorably with 0.1 ppm for n-propyl bromide (nPB).
In February, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirmed that Honeywell’s low-global-warming automobile refrigerant, HFO-1234yf, has a GWP that is less than one, below that of carbon dioxide.