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Petru Niga
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Identification of alternatives to unwanted chemicals
RISE offers support in the identification of relevant alternatives to substitute unwanted chemicals and substances in products and processes. RISE has developed an efficient internal substitution tool to easily screen a broad database of substances and select the most promising ones to solve complex substitution challenges.
Purpose
Many products and processes use today chemicals that need to be replaced due to their negative environmental impact, toxic properties or upcoming regulations. The substitution of a chemical is a complex process that need to account for the physical and chemical properties of the substance to be replaced as well as other critical parameters such as toxicology, environmental impact, cost or even colour and odour.
RISE has developed a unique internal substitution tool to easily identify potential substitutes to toxic chemicals. The tool capitalizes on the Hansen solubility parameters of substances, which provide an indication on the likeness between different substances with respect to their chemical structure and physical properties. The tool has been extended to include information on toxicity and hazard data, environmental effects, eye irritation, skin permeation, prices and odors. The combination of all these parameters in a single search allows for a facile screening of a broad range of substances.
By using the tool, highly relevant alternatives can easily be identified, which limits the number of trials to be performed and reduces the cost of the substitution process. The risk of performing regrettable substitution is greatly lowered.
The substitution tool has been proven to be very efficient for substitution of solvents but could also be used for the substitution of, for example, plasticizers.
Method
The work always starts with discussion with the client to identify all the parameters that need to be accounted for in the search for alternatives for the specific product or process. After identification of the most critical parameters to account for, a search is made by RISE in a broad database of substances using the substitution tool to identify promising candidates. The list is further refined according to secondary criteria and a list of potential alternatives is generated.
Deliveries
The client receives a list of potential alternatives to substitute the targeted toxic substance.
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