Alternative Solvents through Green Chemistry Project

<p>The purpose of this project is to develop state-of-the-art, green precision cleaning technologies for NASA&rsquo;s 21^st Century Launch Complex thus eliminating long-term environmental costs to the Program.&nbsp; Precision cleaning is of critical importance in the aerospace industry.&nbsp; Failure to clean to specified levels may result in problems ranging from impaired performance to catastrophic failure.&nbsp;</p><p>Of particular concern is the cleaning of systems containing strong oxidizers such as liquid oxygen (LOX) or hypergolic fuels.&nbsp; Currently, precision cleaning at Kennedy Space Center is performed using dual-solvent process in which the first solvent, Vertrel MCA, is used to clean the component and a second solvent, HFE-7100, is used as a final rinse and analytical test fluid.&nbsp; Highly fluorinated compounds such as those used in Vertrel MCA are extremely persistent in the environment and are potent greenhouse gases.

Continued use of this or similar solvents will lead to high remediation costs that must be carried by the Program for years to come.</p><p>Historically, precision cleaning has used chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), such as Freon, because it was non-toxic and performed extremely wll.&nbsp; When Freon, and other CFCs, were banned due to their harmful environmental effects, new solvents were identified that were similar compounds but were not yet regulated.&nbsp; Eventually, these solvents also become regulated and unavailable for use.&nbsp; This project specifically did not consider halogenated solvents in order to find solvents or technologies that would not face future environmental regulations.</p>