We can protect our health to a certain extent by understanding the hazards of solvents, which are the most hazardous material components in solvent-based coatings for environmental pollution and human health. The toxicity of solvents refers to both the toxic effect of solvents on human body. Toxic solvents can be absorbed by the body through the skin and digestive tract and cause poisoning. The common toxicity of most organic solvents to the human body is in high concentrations of vapor contact performance of anesthetic effects.
All volatile organic substances whose vapors are in contact with the human body for a long time and in high concentrations are always harmful, and with the deepening of the degree of poisoning and persistent effects, it will lead to acute poisoning and chronic poisoning. The concentration of solvents with high volatility rate in the air at room temperature is much higher than that of solvents with low volatility rate. Therefore, solvents with high volatility rates are more toxic to humans, while solvents with low volatility rates are relatively safe, but inadvertent internal consumption or absorption through the skin can also cause poisoning.
We classify the toxicity of solvents from different perspectives, and hope that you will remember to protect your health and regulate the use of solvents.
The first category: weakly toxic solvents
200 solvents gasoline, tetra-CN, turpentine, ethanol, propanol, butanol, pentanol, solvents, methylcyclohexanol, acetone, ethyl acetate, propyl acetate, butyl acetate, amyl acetate, etc.
The second category: moderately toxic solvents
Toluene, cyclohexane, methanol, methylene chloride.
The third category: strong toxic solvents
Benzene, carbon disulfide, trichloromethane, carbon tetrachloride, chlorobenzene, 2-chloroethanol, etc.
Classification of toxicity to physiological effects
● Solvents that damage nerves: primary alcohols (methanol), ethers, aldehydes, ketones, some esters, benzyl alcohols, and other solvents.
● Solvents for pulmonary toxicity : carboxymethyl esters, formic acid esters and other solvents.
● Solvents for blood poisoning: solvents such as benzene and its derivatives, ethylene glycol, etc.
● Solvents for liver and metabolic poisoning : halogenated hydrocarbon solvents.
● Solvents for kidney toxicity: tetrachloroethane and ethylene glycol solvents (ethylene glycol solvents can affect reproductive function).
Health effects
The first category: basically non-toxic or slightly toxic
1. basically harmless, with no health effects from prolonged use, such as pentane, petroleum ether, light gasoline, hasane, heptane, solvent gasoline No. 200, ethanol, chloroethane, ethyl acetate, etc.
2. slightly toxic, but with low volatility and basically no danger for use under normal circumstances, such as ethylene glycol, butylene glycol, etc.
The second category: solvents that are harmful or slightly toxic to some extent, but not significantly hazardous at the maximum allowable concentration for a short period of time.
toluene, xylene, cyclohexane, isopropylbenzene, cycloheptane, propyl acetate, pentanol, amyl acetate, butanol, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, hydrogenated aromatics, naphtha, nitroethane, etc.
The third category: Harmful solvents Except for being harmless at very low concentrations, they are harmful even when exposed for short periods of time
Benzene, carbon disulfide, methanol, tetrachloroethane, phenol, nitrobenzene, dimethyl sulfate, pentachloroethane, etc.
