Paint and Coating Removal

Many Paint Stripping Products Contain Toxics

Many paint stripping products on the market contain chemicals of high concern such as methylene chloride, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), toluene, xylene, and dimethyl formamide.

High, short-term exposures to methylene chloride can be lethal. Its extreme volatility makes it especially dangerous, since it is very easy to create unsafe airborne concentrations through evaporation. Learn more about methylene chloride.

TURI and UML Researchers Find Safer Alternative that Works in the Same Timeframe

TURI worked with the U.S. EPA, UMass Lowell researchers, paint stripper product manufacturers, bathtub refinishers and furniture refinishers to identify and test safer solvent blends that have general paint stripping performance comparable to that of methylene chloride based paint strippers.

Consumers in the U.S. and Canada now have a safer alternative to dangerous paint strippers that have claimed dozens of lives around the country.

The new product is marketed under the Super Remover New Generation brand. One of the manufacturing sites will be US Pack in Leominster, Mass.

Video: Finding Safer Solvents

Assessment of Performance, Safety and Cost of Safer Alternatives

TURI completed a project to identify and evaluate safer alternatives to methylene chloride and other chemicals of high concern used in coating removal products. Read the results in the TURI Report Assessment of Safer and Effective Alternatives for Coating Removal Products.