Welcome relief from VOCs: Clariant unveils an innovative line of new sustainably-mined clay mineral-based DESVOCANT adsorbents to efficiently reduce the potential exposure of shipment handlers, merchants, and consumers to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from enclosed manufactured products.
VOCs can accumulate every time manufactured goods are stored in enclosed spaces. Consumers will be familiar with the unpleasant “new smell” odors emitted from certain goods on unpacking. In some cases, products are even rejected and returned due to lingering odors associated with VOCs. For shippers, cargo handlers and merchants, a sudden release of high concentrations of accumulated VOCs on opening of transport containers or boxes for product inspection or unloading, can pose serious health risks if inhaled.
Justin Mueller, Head of Business Group Cargo & Device Protection, Business Unit Functional Minerals, comments: “DESVOCANT helps manufacturers and the distribution chain to help control and reduce the accumulation of common VOCs due to off-gassing. Adsorbing and reducing their concentration not only has health and environmental benefits. It also minimizes the higher associated costs and problematic delays of needing gas detection equipment, personnel respirators, or extensive ventilation before products can be distributed to customers or put in shop displays. DESVOCANT can even increase consumer product acceptance. With it, the need to give cargo containers and packaged products a good airing out really could become a thing of the past.”
DESVOCANT adsorbents are based on a naturally-occurring, non-toxic bentonite clay mineral with a unique surface structure, which is dried as granulate and contained in air-permeable sachets or bags. VOCs – both odorous and odorless – from the air inside shipping containers or individually packaged or boxed items are attracted and bound to the surface of the free-flowing granules through adsorption, effectively trapping them within the DESVOCANT packet.
The adsorbents are available in a wide range of sizes suitable for placing in small product packages for shoes, handbags, or clothing, for example, through to full container loads of carpets, paints, toys, plastic packaging, pillows, mattresses, and furniture. The packets do not dust and can therefore be used with light-colored as well as dark-colored goods.
DESVOCANT adsorbents can also be blended and packaged with other materials to meet a variety of cargo-protection requirements. Experts from Clariant Cargo & Device Protection work closely with customers to evaluate each application and recommend the correct product solution and dosage.
Clariant Cargo & Device Protection offers a complete portfolio of desiccants, container desiccants, oxygen absorbers, VOC adsorbents, and humidity indicator solutions to help protect goods from moisture, oxygen, and volatile organic compounds through the entire supply chain. Solutions are available through a global sales network with worldwide manufacturing sites in Brazil, Indonesia, Turkey, United States, and China.