Solvent Recyclers: What Collision Repair Shops Need to Know

The reclamation of spent solvent is one of the few areas in which national environmental goals, body shops' economic interests, and public health and safety issues clearly coincide. Solvent recyclers--or solvent distillation units (SDUs)--are used across North America by thousands of collision repair shops. The benefits include reduced costs, liabilities and regulatory burdens associated with hazardous waste management.

SDUs caught on gradually throughout the 1980s, with the biggest concentration of users in the Pacific Northwest by 1990. Perhaps because of an early awareness of cost benefits and environmental needs in that area, B&T, Recyclene, Resolv-R and Sidewinder were becoming familiar brand names.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had long been engaged in related research and analysis and had consistently encouraged on-site recycling--batch distillation in particular--as an important part of national waste management policy. But the fire-safety community had concerns about the process of distilling flammable and combustible liquids. Not coincidentally, with many SDUs in use in that area, efforts to establish fire code and safety guidelines for SDUs surfaced in King County, Wash., in October 1993.

The job of a few concerned SDU manufacturers and marketers became that of educators when opponents of on-site recycling (notably some with conflicting financial interests), along with well-intentioned but ill-informed or fearful parties (some of them influenced by those with vested interests), attempted to create restrictive rules for the industry. While many thousands of units were already in use in normal non-classified locations across North America, opponents wanted SDUs approved only for use in special locations set up for classified hazardous use--adding many dollars to the cost of every installation. This would have unnecessarily placed on-site recycling beyond the financial reach of countless small businesses and negated much progress already made. The lines were drawn.

But the industry--with the help of environmental officials, a good safety record and sound argument--held these negative forces in check. Any continued uncertainty about the industry's future was set aside when Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) announced in January 1995 its intent to develop a UL standard for SDUs. Engineering Group Leader Kathy Crawford of UL Engineering Services and her staff--with input from fire officials, environmental interests and concerned industry members--spent the next year doggedly hammering out UL 2208, "Standard for Solvent Distillation Units.

"In December 1996, at the International Fire Code Institute's (IFCI) Annual Meeting in Long Beach, Calif., IFCI accepted UL Standard 2208. The 1997 Uniform Fire Code now requires that an SDU meet UL 2208 standards to be certified for use in non-classified areas or in special classified rooms and buildings.

UL Standard 2208 establishes three categories for testing to define operating locations. The most desirable certification is for use in normal, non-hazardous locations. It is also the hardest certification to earn because it has the strictest vapor concentration tests. Under normal operation and under tested failure conditions, the unit must not create hazardous conditions (high vapor concentrations), and no special classified room or building need to be used.

"Class I, Division 2" certification means that during normal operation, vapor concentrations are not hazardous, but during tested failure conditions, the unit will create hazardous vapor concentrations. Establishing a Class I, Division 2 area adds many dollars to the cost of this type unit.

The least desirable is the "Class I, Division 1" location. Certification in this category means that under normal operation and under tested failure conditions the unit will produce hazardous vapor concentrations and may only be used in a Class I, Division 1 area. To make an area suitable for a unit of this classification entails a very expensive and specialized construction process.

For the SDU buyer, the new fire code and UL 2208 provide a safe and sane point of reference for regulatory compliance and safety. When considering a solvent recycler, ask these questions:

* Is it certified by a nationally recognized testing laboratory to meet UL 2208?

* Is it certified for use in a normal, non-hazardous location?

Body shops in the United States are not classified as Group H (hazardous), and usually the only classified areas are within the mixing room and spraybooth. If the SDU hasn't been certified for use in a non-hazardous location, be prepared for additional costs to provide a code-compliant home for the unit ... or be prepared for a safety inspection.

If you want to determine whether an SDU meets the requirements of UL 2208, call UL Data Services at (516) 271-6200, ext. 22897 or ETL at (888) 347-5478. Note: Currently, Canada does not require compliance with UL 2208, so CSA alone does not establish certification in the United States.