I don't know if such a thing exists or not, but has anyone heard of a non flammable solvent? I have to degrease some VERY greasy bones (whale product) and the standard array of dish detergents etc just aren't 'cutting it' (pun intended). Acetone (as usual) is my degreasing agent of choice and on small sample pieces performs in stellar fashion. The problem is that there is an industrial law in effect where I am that limits the amount of flammable liquid in use in such a situtation to 5 gallons. That's hardly enough to do something the size of a 7 ft long whale rib without building a form fitted custom container for each bone (not feasible in commercial applications). I thought about some of the other solvents used for degreasing birds etc (safety solvent, blood out degreaser etc) but I think the cost of those in such large quantities would then be cost prohibitive. Now I realize I'm asking a lot, but does anyone have suggestions on what to use in this situation? Email me or post here...
Thanks =)
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You need a DEGREASER. Water is and always has been called the "universal SOLVENT". LOL.
With the bones you describe, any of the flammable or inflammable solvents you'd use will leave their own residue. You need a soap to disburse the molecules of grease and only a STRONG soap is going to do that. Epo-Grip probably isn't available to you, but with a pH of 12, it's about as high as you can get short of the lye products out there. Lye dissolved in water MAY work on the bones, but I'd be very careful in how long I left them in such a caustic solution. Unless you're in a terrible hurry, I'd suggest using that "universal solvent" and letting the oil leech out naturally. I'm sure whale bones are rather fragile.
The New Bedford Whaling Museum has a Whale skeletal display in their museum. 61' I believe. Very impressive.
The procedure they used was to first steam clean them like you would a car engine to remove the excess - then drill out the marrow and they soaked them in our Degreaser - Super Solvent! That was the final touch. They used 2 55 gallon Drums of it to complete the job! The Super Solvent is non-flamable when mixed and considered an aqueous degreaser. You use 2 fl. ozs. of it to each 1 gallon of water - nothing else!
Like I said - very impressive display!
Raven,
There are non-flammable solvents like triclorethlene or preclorethlene(dry cleaning fluid). The problem lies in the fact that these solvents are very toxic. As a rule of thumb the more flammable a solvent is the less toxic it is and vice versa. The more non-flammable the more toxic. So take your choice the fire/explosion hazard or toxic problems. Like George said, Epo-Grip Bloodout Degreaser will do the job for you quite nicely at a ratio of 4oz to 2 gallons, just as Bruce's product will.
Bottomline be careful! Safety solvents aren't always safe. The safety is in the combustability.