CFCs And Alternative Aerosol Propellents

8 Pages 1942 Words

In today’s modern world of throw-away packaging, Styrofoam, and plastics, many manufacturers produce products, whether intentional or not, that are harmful to the environment. Chlorofluorocarbon is just one of those products. Created in the late 20’s and believed to be harmless to the environment, chlorofluorocarbon was used in just about anything that needed a propellant or anything that needed a refrigerant. After being banned in the United States in the 80’s, many manufactures had to turn to alternative propellant sources.
In 1928, an industrial organic scientist by the name of Thomas Midgley was working at a research lab at General Motors. There he discovered “two inert, nontoxic, nonflammable gasses with excellent refrigerant properties” (Fisher). These two gasses were dichlorodifluoromethane and trichloromonofluoromethane, which are both simple variations of methane. Methane has the formula CH4, where there are four hydrogen molecules for each carbon molecule. In dichlorodifluoromethane, chlorine and fluorine replace the hydrogen to have the formula CCl2F2. In trichloromonofluoromethane, the four hydrogen are kicked out and replaced with three chlorines and only one fluorine. Combined together they create chlorofluorocarbon, or CFC. By 1938, 15% of the refrigerant market was held by CFC’s, which were marketed by du Pont under the name “Freon”.
Now that du Pont had this new product, they began testing its limits. They discovered that in room temperature, under pressure, CFC was turned into a liquid and would instantly vaporize when the pressure was released. They also discovered that the gas was inert and did not harm hair or skin and did not react with water. This made it a perfect candidate for propelling insecticide spray. At the end of 1947, forty-five million cans were being sold each year.
Since the gases were nontoxic and they could be could be sprayed on human skin and hair with out any ill effects, a ...