The Evaluation of Total Cost

It is true that many Dynaloy solvents are higher in initial cost than many competitive products such as methylene chloride or dimethylformamide. The benefits provided, however, often outweigh the cost or bring the total cost down to a similar level with these types of commodity solvents. In addition. Dynaloy can show customers techniques in how to reduce their solvent usage in an effort to reduce total cost. Many aspects of cleaning applications should be examined to determine total cost:

1.   Comparison of the amount of new solvent material required to do equal amount of work done by the current material.

2.   Comparison of the amount of new solvent lost through evaporation and handling versus the amount lost in working with the current solvent

3.   Comparison of disposal costs/ hazardous waste charges.

4.   Comparison of time, labor and cost required to do the entire cleaning operation. For example, some inexpensive flushing solvents may not clean the mix-head completely requiring daily breakdown and manual cleaning of equipment.

5.   Comparison of time and cost required for government reporting of hazardous materials.

6.   Benefits to the employees and environment when using safer solvents.

7.   Examine usage reduction through careful cleaning evaluations and reusing of solvents through simple filtering operations.

 

Example - Methylene Chloride vs. Dynasolve CU-6

In 1998, a major urethane producer in Memphis, TN switched from methylene chloride to

Dynasolve CU-6 for flushing and soak cleaning of their low pressure pouring machines.

They have seen the following benefits.

1.   Use less material for flushing because the CU-6 is more effective.

2.   Significantly reduced time needed to break down and clean mixing head parts because the CU-6 keeps the parts clean.

3.   Reduced hazardous waste costs by more than 75%.

4.   Virtually eliminated loss of solvents from evaporation.

5.   Reduced reporting needed with use of methylene chloride.

6.   Increased the safety of the environment in which the employees work.

7.   Experienced a small reduction in total cleaning costs for this application.

Usage Reduction Examples 

In 1999 a major polyurethane foam producer in Riverside, California began using UR-Away FL as their flushing solvent. In an effort to assist them in reducing costs, Dynaloy made the suggestions given below. They reduced their monthly usage of UR-Away FL from 150 gallons to 50 gallons.

 

In 2000, another major polyurethane foam producer in Kent Washington requested assistance from Dynaloy in an effort to reduce cleaning costs. This company was using the Dynasolve CU-6 for both flushing and soaking. They implemented some of these suggestions, cutting their cleaning costs by 50%.

 

1.  Evaluate adjusting the volume of solvent used during the flush. Frequently more solvent is used than is actually necessary to achieve the desired level of cleanliness.

2.   Reuse the solvent. By collecting the used solvent and running it through a simple filtering apparatus, the product can be reused up to 5 times before becoming loaded with resin. The filtering can be as simple as using cheesecloth or a metal mesh filter on top of a collection container, pouring the used solvent into the container through the chosen filter material.

3.   If breaking down of the mix-head for additional cleaning is required, use two sets of parts. This allows one set to soak while the other is being used. Several Dynaloy solvents will completely clean these parts when allowed to set in the solution for a few hours. This reduces labor costs associated with manually cleaning parts and usually produces a cleaner pan. Cleaner pans can last longer between heavy cleaning.

4.  Evaluate the combination of different products. For example, flush with one of the lower cost flushing solvents (such as UR-Away FL or Poly-Flush) throughout a shift, but flush with a more aggressive flushing solvent (such as Dynaflush or Dynasoive CU-6) at the end of each shift or any time before the machine will set idle for a significant period of time. This may help reduce down time required for additional part cleaning.