The Safety Concerns Associated with Working of N-Propyl Bromide Replacement

Posted by Harry on June 7th, 2017

1-Bromopropane is a chemical compound which is used as a solvent for the purpose of cleaning. Its odor is of hydrocarbon. It has many industrial applications. It is also used in cleaning. For example: dry cleaning, electronic cleaning, foam blowing and medical cleaning. Apart from that, it is also used as a solvent in the production of asphalt as an industrial usage. It has scope for use in aviation industry for maintenance. It is also used as a solvent in synthetic fiber production. It is further used as a degreasing agent on plastic, optics and some other metals electronic circuit boards. It is used on circuit boards to remove soldering residues.

It is a reproductive toxicant and is called as ‘substance of high concern’. It is classified as so as per Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals.

It has one more name. It is called as n-propyl bromide and there are high concerns of safety as far as this chemical is concerned. It is a chemical and the exposure to it can affect us. So, when it is used in industrialization, the people will come under its exposure and then it may affect us. Therefore, in 2003, the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) set a limit to its exposure. The value of threshold limit was at 10 parts per million (ppm) for an 8-hour exposure. In 2014, the ACGIH made changes in the announced a lower threshold limit value of 0.1 ppm for an 8-hour exposure.

The international organization is that highly concerned regarding the health concerns because the negative symptoms of the exposure can be seen even in 2 days and in the long run the effects are harmful. In 2008, one more international organization suggested the changes in ventilation for reducing the harmful effects of it.

Even after these many precautions the workers in the US were suffering from problems due to higher concentrations. Its usage in aerosol glues to glue foam cushions has reported serious health problems like, confusion, dizziness, fatigue, headache, visual disturbances, twitching of muscles, irritation of mucus membranes, eye problems, skin problems, upper respiratory tract, loss of consciousness, loss of sensation in foot, etc.

The most dangerous thing in N-Propyl Bromide Replacement is that it is absorbed by the blood if it is touched by the skin. It is even okay; the more dangerous fact is that it can be absorbed by skin even when gloves are an obstacle. So, gloves also can’t stop this dangerous chemical to enter and harm the skin.

Polyol is a compound with multiple functional groups for certain organic reactions. It is also sugar alcohol and is used in food industry because of lesser content of sugars. We are talking about Polyol Solubility as it used in the industry of cleaning also and higher the solubility of the compound, the higher would be its utility.