With global warming in the news and greenhouse gases getting more regulatory attention, electronic and industrial manufacturers are on the look-out for ways to reduce carbon emissions. Techspray has been developing products for over a decade that have much lower Global Warming Potential (GWP), without performance or safety trade-offs.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines greenhouse gases as those that “warm the Earth by absorbing energy and slowing the rate at which the energy escapes to space; they act like a blanket insulating the Earth.”
The impact of greenhouse gases can vary in their radiative efficiency (their ability to absorb energy), and their lifetime (how long they stay in the atmosphere).
So GWP provides a way to compare the global warming impact of various gases. GWP is a measurement of the energy 1 ton of gas will absorb over 100 years in comparison to carbon dioxide (CO2). Since CO2 is the baseline, it has a GWP of 1. As an example, a chemical with a GWP of 100 has 100 times the global warming potential of CO2. (Source: EPA, Understanding Global Warming Potentials, https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/understanding-global-warming-potentials)
HFC-134a (1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane, CAS #811-97-2), a common propellant for aerosol products, has a GWP of 1,300, so 1,300 times CO2. HFC-134a is so popular because it is nonflammable, so relatively safe around sparks, flames, and energized PCBs or electrical contacts.
HFC-152a (1,1-Difluoroethane, CAS #75-37-6), also a common aerosol propellant, has a GWP of 140. Since it has almost 1/10th the GWP of HFC-134a, some companies opt for HFC-152a-based aerosol dusters to reduce their greenhouse emissions. This can be a risky move, since HFC-152a is flammable, so a potential problem around hot surfaces, flames, and energized circuits.
HFO-1234ze (trans- 1,3,3,3-Tetrafluoropropene, CAS #29118-24-9) was engineered with the very low GWP of less than 1, so below the global warming impact of CO2. The GWP of HFO-1234ze is far below HFC-134a and HFC-152a, but with the safety and environmental advantages of being nonflammable* and zero VOC (volatile organic compound, which contributes to smog).
Unfortunately, the adoption of HFO-1234ze in dusters and other aerosol products has been drastically slowed by its high price. Since this newer technology is not widely used in larger volume applications like air conditioning, it doesn’t not have the advantage of economy of scale driving the cost down. That is expected to change as regulations drive the usage of HFC-1234ze for refrigeration.
Techspray has engineered products with lower environmental impact, but with similar or superior performance of what they are replacing…
Aerosol Duster
Renew-Duster is formulated with new HFO-1234ze propellant, with a fraction of the global warming potential (GWP) of HFC-134a and HFC-152a based dusters. Renew-Duster is a drop-in replacement -- nonflammable*, odorless, has low toxicity, and similar temperature.
Techspray Air Duster (commonly called "canned air", "compressed air duster", and "dusting gas") blows away dust, microscopic contaminants, lint, metallic oxide deposits and other soils that can damage sensitive electronics. When these contaminants get in the way of vents or fans within the device, they create a build-up which leads to overheating and/or shortages.
Techspray dusters do not contain additives that can contaminate sensitive electronics. Retail dusters generally have bitterant added to prevent huffing. This same bitterant can lead to unwanted and potentially harmful residues that can build up over time.
https://www.techspray.com/renew-duster
Freeze Spray
Eco-Freezer freeze spray is formulated with new HFO-1234ze propellant, with a fraction of the global warming potential (GWP) of HFC-134a based freeze sprays. HFO-1234ze has a GWP of 6, compared to HFC-134a with GWP of 1300. Eco-Freeze can be a drop-in replacement when GWP needs to be lowered.
Techspray freeze spray blast fast-evaporating liquid that super-chills isolated areas. Used as a troubleshooting aid for intermittently faulting capacitors, resistors, semiconductors, and other defective components. Freeze spray also increases the visibility of cold solder joints, cracks in printed circuit boards and oxidized junctions.
https://www.techspray.com/eco-freezer-2
Flux Removers
Eco-dFluxer flux removers are water-based, environmentally friendly cleaners that are designed to work in both inline and batch cleaning equipment. Optimal combinations of solvents and saponifiers lower surface tension for penetration under low stand-offs, and powerful cleaning action to remove all flux residues.
Effective on a wide variety of solders and fluxes: lead, lead-free, aqueous, RMA, no-clean, and new halide-free fluxes. High compatibility with common PCB metals & plastics. Eco-dFluxer flux removers are highly filterable with long bath life.
High performance cleaning gives you brilliant solder joints and allows you to increase dilution, increase line speeds, reduce waste water, decrease cost per board, and most importantly… eliminate field failures due to ionic contamination!
https://www.techspray.com/eco-dfluxer-smt100-8
https://www.techspray.com/eco-dfluxer-smt200-8
https://www.techspray.com/eco-dfluxer-smt300-8
SMT Stencil Cleaners
Techspray offers a wide variety of low-GWP stencil cleaners that are effective on solder paste and adhesives. Under the Techspray Renew brand, eco-friendly water-based formulas are available for hand wipes, understencil cleaning, and batch cleaning. All are engineered to effectively replace the most common stencil cleaning solvent, isopropyl alcohol (IPA). IPA is cost effective and a great cleaner, but has the environmental disadvantages of high GWP and VOC.
Eco-Stencil UM understencil and manual cleaner effectively removes all types of solder paste (e.g. waterbased, RMA, noclean, leadfree) and uncured adhesive from screens, misprinted boards and equipment. Completely safe on stencils, squeegees, and equipment surfaces. Ideal replacement for IPA cleaners, which are often prohibited because of safety and environmental restrictions on VOC emissions or waste disposal issues.
Eco-Stencil RF batch stencil cleaner is an effective nonflammable drop-in replacement for IPA and other solvents commonly used in rinse-free batch stencil cleaning systems. Unique solvent and DI water blend is effective at removing a wide variety of pastes and adhesives. Higher concentration can be used for more difficult pastes and adhesives. Eco-Stencil RF does not contain ionics, and will not leave contaminates that will change downstream process windows or lead to board failures. It can also be used as a manual and under-stencil cleaner. Eco-Stencil RF batch stencil cleaner has been tested and proven compatible with every part of your stencil — from the frame, screen and stencil to the adhesives binding it together.
https://www.techspray.com/eco-stencil-um-understencil-manual-cleaner
https://www.techspray.com/eco-stencil-rf-batch-stencil-cleaner-2
SMT & Wave Maintenance Cleaner
Eco-Oven Clean is a water-based formula for periodic preventative maintenance to keep equipment running at top performance levels. It cleans reflow ovens, wave soldering systems, and associated heat exchanger systems by removing all types of flux residues (e.g. waterbased, RMA, noclean, leadfree). Eco-Oven is fast acting and more environmentally friendly, effective and safe than IPA for bakedon flux residues.
https://www.techspray.com/eco-oven-cleaner
Glass & Surface Cleaner
Eco-Shine Glass & Surface Cleaner removes contamination from glass, stainless steel, chrome, mirrors, tile, plastic, ceramic and enamel and leaves a streak-free finish. It effectively removes finger prints, light oils, and other soils. It is nonflammable, low VOC, low GWP, and NSF registered C1.
https://www.techspray.com/eco-shine-glass-surface-cleaner-3
Techspray’s lab is available to help you qualify products, establish cleaning procedures, or diagnosing cleaning issues. For more information, go to www.techspray.com/techlab or call 800-858-4043.
