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From: larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.chem,sci.med
Subject: Re: PAM propellant
Summary: Use of CFC's as propellants...
Message-ID: <3446@kitty.UUCP>
Date: 15 Oct 89 15:06:55 GMT
References: <1989Oct14.012606.13102@utzoo.uucp> <12770@boulder.Colorado.EDU>
Organization: Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, NY
Lines: 41

In article <12770@boulder.Colorado.EDU>, eesnyder@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Eric E. Snyder) writes:
> >Ok.  Here is what is on a can of PAM for sale in Toronto, in the 
> >ingredients list.  Sounds delicious ;-).
> >| Ingredients: 
> >| trichlorofluoromethane.... 
>    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Excuse me, are these statements compatible?  Trichlorofluoromethane is about
> as prototypical a chlorofluorocarbon as there is.  Canadians have a lot of
> nerve complaining about acid rain if they still haven't banned CFC's in
> such products.

	I am just as surprised as you are, since it is my understanding
that Canada banned CFC's as propellants some time ago.

	However, there may be some alternative explanations which I have
seen in other instances: (1) the can may be _old_ stock which had somehow
surfaced; (2) the can may be an old lithograph version which would not
reflect the current composition, although such use would certainly be
in violation of product ingredient disclosure requirements; (3) the maker
of Pam may be exploiting a loophole in the CFC ban, in that the CFC is
claimed as a solvent, NOT a propellant.

	The latter situation may well be true, at least in the case of
trichlorofluoromethane (a/k/a Fluorocarbon 11).  Trichlorofluoromethane
does not boil until around 75 deg F, so it is often a liquid at room
temperatures.  The vapor pressure of trichlorofluoromethane is too low
for it to be used as a propellant by itself, but it has been used in
combination with other CFC's to create a mixture with particular vapor
pressure and solvent characteristics.  CFC's have also been mixed with
alkane hydrocarbon propellant gases to achieve particular propellant
characteristics.

	In any event, as was clearly pointed out on the Canadian label,
Pam contains both isobutane and propane as its propellants.  My opinion
of Pam, its previous "safety" record notwitstanding, is that this material
used around a stovetop is an accident waiting to happen.

<> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp.
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