Many important chemicals contribute to the quality of household cleaners and polishes, from disinfectant agents to fragrances, emulsifiers, colorants and others. Among the most important is your choice in a solvent, and isoparaffins offer benefits beyond conventional applications.
How Consumers Choose Products
To the consumer, the usefulness of a cleaning or polishing product is closely tied to convenience. Modern household products are expected to perform well on their own without damaging substrates or irritating skin or strong chemical odors while performing better than a homemade mixture.
The impacts of these products on personal health and the environment are also of concern. Consumers want to be assured that the convenience of cleaners and polishes won’t be harmful to themselves or their families, and also does not carry a significant ecological cost.
So, what type of solvent is best in your chemical formulation?
Performance and Health/Environmental Impact of Isoparaffins
The answer to this question of course depends on the type of product, but in many cases, isoparaffins may offer a broader set of benefits than standard solvent alternatives.
Considerations
Three main factors come into play when consideration the above question:
- Performance. Does it have good wetting and penetration, low surface tension and low viscosity? Is it a non-aggressive, good carrier with the right evaporation time and no residues?
- Health impact. Is it non-toxic? Does it not irritate the eyes or skin? Does it have a low odor to avoid olfactory irritation?
- Environmental impact. Is it biodegradable, not eco-toxic? Does it have low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) and ozone creation potential?
Solvent Types
These household products typically utilize one of three types of solvents:
- Oxygenated – e.g. alcohols, esters and ethers.
- Halogenated – e.g. chlorine, bromine or iodine.
- Hydrocarbon – aromatic (e.g. toluene) or paraffinic (e.g. isoparaffins)
Many household cleaners and polishes today utilize oxygenated solvents. Glycol ethers are especially popular among product manufacturers for their high solvency for grease and oil, their biodegradability, and ability to slow down or speed up drying time in coatings.
But these and other conventional solvents do not utilize the unique properties of certain saturated hydrocarbons such as isoparaffins. These offer advantages in many products that often make them more beneficial than oxygenated solvents.
Isoparaffins in Cleaning Applications
In household cleaners, isoparaffins make excellent solvents due to:
- Low viscosity for good penetration and “spreadability”
- Low surface tension for good wetting
- Low eco-toxicity and high biodegradability
- Lack of irritation on skin or eyes
- High flash point for added safety
These properties are superior to other conventional solvents in many cleaning products from hand soaps to degreasers, metal cleaners and electronics cleaners.
Isoparaffins in Polishes
Other properties make isoparaffins ideal for the application of coatings:
- Good carrier for other ingredients
- Helps produce an even layer of application
- Dissolves impurities to clean and ready the surface
- Helps achieve the ideal evaporation time
These properties are why isoparaffins often make better solvents for furniture and metal polishes.
Additional Benefits of GTL (Gas-to-Liquid) Isoparaffins
These properties are further pronounced in isoparaffins sourced from a pure synthetic gas-to-liquid production process, such as Shell GTL solvents.
In household cleaners, Shell GTL solvents offer a wide range of volatilities and viscosities for a wider range of applications than typical isoparaffins.
- It achieves remarkably low surface tension and viscosity, stable formulation.
- With virtually zero oxygen content in the pure, natural gas feedstock, GTL poses no risk of ozone formation.
- Shell GTL products are also readily biodegradable, degrading to smaller molecules at least 70 percent within 30 days.
Shell GTL also offers additional benefits beyond typical isoparaffins in household polishes and paints.
- It improves the “wet edge time” – especially important to commercial painters, this property allows re-painting of imperfections for a longer time without leaving noticeable joins in the final coating.
- The environmental/health considerations of very low VOC (volatile organic compound) and odor, as well as high biodegradability, are also valuable.
Recommended Applications for Shell GTL Isoparaffins
These properties make Shell GTL an excellent solvent in:
- Aerosols – very low odor, low toxicity
- Paints and polishes – high gloss, low viscosity
- Degreasers – excellent solvency
- Dust remover and polish – good wetting, non-polar and even gloss
- Metal cleaning – surface preparation and polish
- Electronics cleaning – highly dielectric, nonconductive
Explore Isoparaffins for Household Product Solvent Formulation
Renkert Oil is proud to offer Shell GTL products because we believe their unique formulation of isoparaffins represents the next generation of solvents.
Since our founding, over three decades ago, we simply have not seen a better product to balance performance with personal safety and minimizing environmental impact.
Beyond Cleaners and Polishes
The application of Shell GTL solvents and oils goes far beyond household cleaners and polishes, to:
- commercial cleaners
- personal care products and cosmetics
- clean-burning fuel for indoor lamps and lighters
- production aids such as dust suppressants in agricultural settings
- carrier oils for pesticides
- many more, including of course specialty lubricants
We invite you to consider Renkert Oil not only your main supplier of isoparaffins but your primary consultants on these products.
Partnering with Renkert Oil
In addition to helping you find the right formulation for your products, we are committed to supplying you with high quality solutions at a competitive price.
Renkert Oil supplies Shell GTL and our full line of mineral oils from production facilities and terminals throughout North America and in Europe. Logistics services include dedicated railcar and truck trailer fleet services and partnerships with preferred transportation companies.
In summary, Renkert Oil will help you determine the best possible solvents and oils for your product applications and ensure they arrive when and where you need them.
Partner with us! Contact Renkert Oil today to learn more.