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AUTOMOTIVE WASTE IDENTIFICATION PROCESS






1. The commonality of these products is that they are all oil based.
2. If these products were disposed of as a waste in their original form, all except
gasoline/fuels, would be handled as a non-hazardous off spec. waste oil.
3. Gasoline/fuels would be handled as a hazardous or combustible solvent waste.


Question A: What part do these oil based products play in creating a waste stream during the parts cleaning process when repairs and maintenance are done?
1. If a part is unusable, it is disposed of in the general garbage or saved for pickup by
a salvage company for recycling steel, etcetera.
2. If a part is repairable, it must be cleaned.

EXAMPLE (Valve Cover)


3. The previous example is representative of all automotive, truck, bus or car parts.
The oil based lubricants may vary depending on where the vehicle part was
taken from. However, the soil to be cleaned remains the same [oil, grease, dirt].

Question B: What other possible contaminants may have been introduced into the oil, grease and dirt that could make the combined waste hazardous?
1. Engine oil will pick up some heavy metals (cadmium, chromium, lead) from the
alloys found in pistons, rings, bearings and cylinder walls as these components
wear.
2. Grease typically does not pick up heavy metals.
3. Dirt is not hazardous but becomes contaminated with oil and grease.




Question C: Does the cleaning solution introduce a hazardous element, like solvents or initiate any chemical action that would leach out further heavy metals from an automotive part during the cleaning process.

NO. The cleaning solution is basically water with a non-hazardous trade secret surfactant package that quickly penetrates and detackifies oil, grease and dirt. The cleaning solution has a 9.5 pH which is not high enough to attack the substrate surface of a metal so as to leach out any alloy that may contain heavy metals. It actually leaves a micro film on the part that inhibits corrosion.

Question D: Does the cleaning solution become contaminated, with oil, grease and dirt like a solvent, or an emulsifying detergent product, thus becoming a hazardous waste as in the case of a solvent or a possible hazardous waste as in the case of an emulsifying detergent?

NO. The cleaning solution is based on phase separation technology. While it will
initially break up and detackify soils the emulsification that might initially take place
destabilizes when the solution is returned to the parts washer reservoir. This action
causes all hydrocarbon or petro chemical products to break out of their original form.
As a result the cleaning solution never loses its cleaning strength.

Question E:
What happens if a hazardous substance like solvents, gasoline, carb cleaners, etcetera are introduced into the machine during the cleaning process?
All of these products are high evaporants. If any of these products are introduced into the machine they will evaporate almost instantly. The parts washer cleaning solution is heated to 115º aiding evaporation and is incompatible with these types of products. In other words, they will not mix with the cleaning solution (See Question D).

Question F:
Is there a possible combustible situation present as these solvent products evaporate?

NO. The heated solution gives off water vapor. This action acts as a vapor flash suppressant. The only evaporant in the cleaning solution is water. This ensures that no other component could possibly combine with a possible solvent evaporant to create or support combustion.


IDENTIFYING ALL POTENTIAL AUTOMOTIVE WASTE COMPONENTS



All waste generated through the cleaning process is an oil based waste. Depending on the type of automotive business, there will be heavy metals in the used oil as is common in used motor oil. Bioforce parts washing wastes managed as oily waste and transported to an energy recover facility for incineration.