Research and Development

TURI works with companies across the electronics industry supply chain to identify safer alternatives to commonly used toxic chemicals. Industry representatives collaborate with TURI to determine best practices and assess the reliability and quality of alternative methods for manufacturing electronic components and printed wiring boards.

TURI recently worked with various companies to replace PFAS in electronics processing fluids like coolants and etching solutions with safer formulations. Transene Company, a Massachusetts-based manufacturer of advanced materials for the electronics industry now offers a safer non-PFAS solution for electronics etching based on their collaborative work with TURI and the University of Massachusetts Lowell.  Read the case study.

As a member of the Clean Electronics Production Network, TURI staff work with companies, suppliers, advocates and governments on finding safer alternatives used in the electronics industry.

Our past work with the electronics sector includes the New England Lead Free Electronics Consortium, a collaboration between TURI, U.S. EPA and several companies throughout the printed wiring board supply chain. This fact sheet provides a summary of the work of the Consortium.  Similarly, TURI brought together raw material suppliers, compounders, extruders and OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) to address environmental challenges facing the coated wire and cable industry. This supply chain faces European, Japanese and US regulatory pressure on a number of key wire and cable materials, including: lead, halogenated flame retardants, PVC, heat stabilizers, and plasticizers.

TURI connects university research on the environmental impact of wire and cable constituents, laboratory evaluation of alternative materials, and meetings that draw firms from throughout the supply chain to address human and environmental impacts, regulatory requirements, new technology developments, and business and technical strategies.

Morgan Advanced Materials, a manufacturer of porcelain electrical supplies for medical and aerospace industries, used trichloroethylene (TCE) for several tasks, including wax removal after ceramic grinding. After investing in a new vapor degreaser system and a new solvent mixture tested by the TURI laboratory, Morgan eliminated the use of TCE, thereby enhancing the health and safety of its workers, eliminating TURA reporting, and reducing costs.

This short video describes Morgan’s decision-making process, cost savings and expected improvements in health and safety and regulatory obligations.

Case Study Documents Costs and Financial Benefits of Switching

The case study describes the new equipment, environmental health and safety considerations, performance testing results and cost analysis. Download the case study.

Methylene chloride, or dichloromethane (DCM), is commonly used as a metal degreaser, a paint stripper and as a component in adhesives. It’s also used by workers to remove conformal coatings from printed circuit board components.

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.

Due to the serious adverse health effects of methylene chloride, TURI has funded and conducted multiple research projects to find safer alternatives.

Safer Paint Stripping Products Available to Consumers

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. Read the alternatives analysis

The Safer Pipe and Paint Products Program (SP4)

The Safer Pipe and Paint Products Program (SP4) is a project supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and managed by the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI). Its mission is to help retailers, manufacturers, and labor unions offer safer alternatives to PVC cement and paint stripping products, specifically those free from hazardous chemicals of significant concern. Learn more about (SP4)

Conformal Coatings in Electronics

A conformal coating protects components from harsh environments like moisture, dust and temperature extremes. In order to repair the underlying circuit board, workers typically use hazardous volatile solvents, such as methylene chloride, to remove the coating.

The research results of a recent TURI Academic Research Grant project identified safer alternatives to methylene chloride used to remove conformal coatings on printed circuit boards. The study, led by Assistant Professor Wan-Ting (Grace) Chen of the Plastics Engineering Department at UMass Lowell in partnership with Raytheon Company, was recently published in Polymers Journal. Read the article, Removing Acrylic Conformal Coating with Safer Solvents for Re-Manufacturing Electronics.

Hexavalent chromium (hex chrome) compounds are a toxic form of chromium and are used in a variety of industrial processes and products, such as corrosion protection for coating systems used in the aerospace/defense industry. Hex chrome compounds are human carcinogens and have high acute toxicity.

In 2012, the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) founded a consortium of leading companies in the aerospace/defense industry and government agencies to collaborate to adopt safer alternatives to hex chrome. Since then, TURI has led the Hex Chrome Free Aerospace Coatings Consortium to identify and evaluate safer substitutes to replace hex chrome for corrosion protection for three different coating applications: bond primers, sealants and conversion coatings.

The consortium has tested the performance of safer substances with positive results including passing several industry performance standards for the target coating applications. Testing has included paint adhesion and accelerated corrosion testing at Lockheed Martin; thermal and mechanical preconditioning at the U.S. Navy; and long-term beachfront corrosion testing at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

FOOD AND BEVERAGE

TURI has provided grants and performance testing services to help companies in the food and beverage industry reduce toxics, including Little Leaf Farms in Devens, Mass. The lettuce grower chose to use a high pressure washer to clean gutters rather than using harsh chemicals. See more in the video.

Watch the Little Leaf Farms Video: Lettuce Grows Greener

Finding Safer Ways to Clean and Sanitize

The following companies have also found safer ways to clean and/or sanitize:

• Fat Moon Mushrooms –  switched from using bleach to a safer alternative.
• Merrimack Ales, Lowell – found safer ways to clean and sanitize brewery tanks.
• Kettle Cuisine, Lynn – reduced the use of sodium hydroxide used for cleaning.
• Cape Cod Chips, Hyannis – eliminated the use of two chemicals used to test frying oil.

Metal Finishing

The metal finishing industry often uses highly toxic chemicals such as heavy metals, acids, solvents and reactants, that makes this sector an opportunity for improvement.

River Street Metal Finishing, Inc., in Braintree, Mass. recently shared how they reduced the use of sulfuric acid in the anodizing process. Watch this two-minute highlight video.

To learn more details, view the one-hour River Street Metal Finishing webinar. Read the River Street case study.

Fabricated Met

The fabricated metal product industry transforms metal into intermediate or end products. Companies in this sector use processes that machine, treat, coat, plate, paint and clean metal parts. To clean and strip metal surfaces, companies typically use solvents, acids and other toxics.

CD Aero Eliminates Use of nPB

CD Aero in New Bedford found a safer alternative cleaning process to the use of n-propyl bromide (nPB). With a new aqueous cleaning process, the company is now saving $46,000 per year, protecting health and safety and reducing its regulatory obligations. Learn more.

Umicore Electrical Materials

Umicore Electrical Materials USA Inc. in Attleboro manufactures contact materials for the electronics industry. The facility had been using a vacuum degreaser with the cleaning solvent perchloroethylene (PCE) before purchasing a new vacuum degreaser that’s used with a new, safer solvent blend. Read the case study.

Riverdale Mills Reduces Use of Toxic Chemicals

Riverdale Mills of Northbridge, a manufacturer of welded wire mesh, received a TURI industry grant to reduce the use of hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide and ammonium hydroxide in their coating process. The company developed a two-part dual roller system that first removes excess water and then excess acid from the surface of the wire mesh, which prevents water getting into the acid bath and acid dragging into the rinse tanks. Read the case study. Visit the Riverdale Mills demonstration page for the recorded webinar and more details.

Lytron Reduces Trichloroethylene by 6,000 Pounds

Lytron located in Woburn received a TURI industry grant to reduce the use of TCE. In the video below, Alan Smith describes how he used TURI’s laboratory testing services to evaluate the effectiveness of solutions that worked in a vacuum degreaser to remove lubricating oils from aluminum flat and fin parts. The new solution has reduced the company’s TCE emissions by 6,000 pounds.

Independent Plating, a metal finishing company, converted a nickel plating line to accommodate a new technology that substitutes trivalent chromium for hexavalent chromium.

Located at Boott Mills in Lowell, TURI has analytical, microbiology, wet and demo labs, all to help companies find safer cleaning methods or formulations that work.  With decades of experience testing the performance of safer cleaning chemicals, TURI offers guidance on how to reduce your risk to the coronavirus while also avoiding unnecessary exposure to toxic chemicals.  U.S. EPA’s Design for Environment, now Safer Choice, recognized the TURI Laboratory as a “Champion” in its Safer Detergents Initiative.

The TURI Laboratory tests the performance of cleaning and disinfection products to encourage companies, institutions and product formulators choose and develop safer substitutes. Whether you’re a metal finishing company, product formulator, facility manager or any organization looking for safer cleaning products and processes, the TURI Laboratory can help.