Environment: The vegetable oils and their fatty acid esters substitute

The environmental impact of cleaning is substantial, due to the use of chemical cleaning procedures. During cleaning volatile organic solvents evaporate to the air endangering workers and contributing to air pollution. In several industries such as the metal, rubber and plastic, furniture, textile and printing industry cleaning processes are applied. By using alternatives the environmental impact and the risks for workers will be reduced, while at the same time these agents might be more economical.

Several industries in the EU are phasing out organic solvents and looking for alternatives. In the printing industry, some good results have been achieved with vegetable oils and their fatty acids (VOFAs). VOFAs do not evaporate and are, as a result, less harmful to the environment and workers. In this document it is proposed to study the necessity of cleaning processes and avoid them where possible or substitute by VOFAs.