One of our customers - a prominent aerospace manufacturer - asked us to look at an alternative to the high-GWP solvent they were using . We worked with them to approve SF80 and once on site , we assisted in optimising their processes to reduce solvent consumption . We introduced a solvent recovery process to allow them to further reduce waste and reuse the recovered solvent . Previously they had been using 7 Metric Tonnes per year , and this change of solvent has taken the customer ’ s overall usage of solvent down by 28 %.
While the existing product was less expensive than SF80 , the reduction in solvent usage has shown a significant cost reduction of around £ 30,000 per year as well as a significant reduction in CO2 equivalent emissions .
With a GWP of 990 , the CO2 emissions created by the customer when using the alternative product were equal to the emissions of driving 143 times around the world - or 7.5 times to the moon and back . In comparison , by using SF80 , the customer ’ s new emissions are the equivalent of
driving from Edinburgh to Moscow .
The statistics are alarming - the last seven years have been the warmest seven years on record ; Earth ’ s ice sheets are losing 413 Gigatonnes of mass per year ; and the total sea levels are increasing by 3.3 millimetres per year . When you consider that this can be almost exclusively attributed to harmful gases in the atmosphere , there ’ s really no excuse for not taking action and making improvements where possible . When more environmentally-friendly solvents exist , which yield the same results , making a change becomes one of the easiest ways to play your part in protecting our Earth .
Telephone : + 44 ( 0 ) 1506 443 058 Email : sales @ frasertech . co . uk Visit : www . frasertech . co . uk read online : www . surfaceworld . com APRIL 2021
15