Development of a Non-Toxic Paint Stripper

Paint stripping products are a $360 million per year business in the United States.Currently, the most effective ones rely on Methylene Chloride (MeCl).MeCl is an aggressive solvent that can loosen a coating and make it easily removed in as little as 30 minutes.Unfortunately, MeCl is toxic and dangerous to handle, especially without respiratory protection.MeCl is also harmful to the environment.There is a significant market for non-MeCl paint strippers which could grow significantly if MeCl-based paint strippers are banned. TDA has developed a paint stripper that is MeCl-free and composed entirely of non-toxic ingredients.The paint stripper will work faster than the current MeCl-free competitors on the market.It will be effective against a wide range of architectural and decorative coatings.Our paint stripper will not rely on an aggressive solvent such as Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) or N-Methyl Pyrrolidinone (NMP).As these solvents are relative newcomers in paint stripper formulations, they have not been as thoroughly tested as MeCl, and their hazards are not fully quantified.Our goal is to develop a paint stripping formulation that will be completely non-hazardous and that will not end up being another environmental problem in the future.