DoD Sustainable Products Center

“Products designed to prevent the deterioration (corrosion) of metals.”

“Products that are designed to clean and remove grease, oil, dirt, stains, soils, and rust from metal surfaces. Products that are designed to remove rust from metal surfaces through chemical action.”

The BioPreferred Program established a minimum biobased content of 53 percent for corrosion preventatives and 71 percent for corrosion removers.

Before these biobased products are utilized by the Military Departments and DoD Components, their performance must be proven to meet DoD requirements.

Demonstration Products*

Products demonstrated are listed in Table 1

Table 1: Demonstration Products

Manufacturer	Product
Renewable Lubricants, Inc	Bio Penetrating Lubricant (BPL) Bio Blast Penetrant
Cortec Corporation	EcoAir Biobased CLP EcoAir 422 Non-Toxic Rust Remover Ecoline 3220 BioCorr Rust Preventative, Green 3690 Open Air Corrosion Inhibitor
ZeRust	Axxanol 46-Bio

* Mention of or referral to commercial products, services, and manufacturers herein is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute endorsement by, nor the official policy or position of, the Department of Defense (DoD), any of its Components, or the U.S. Government.

Demonstration Sites

• Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD)
• Naval Air Station Corpus Christi (NASCC)
• AMCOM Theater Equipment Package (TEP) Facility, Redstone Arsenal
• U.S. Navy Fleet Readiness Center Southeast (FRC-SE)

Demonstration Details

Corrosion inhibitors are applied to metal surfaces of equipment, parts, fixtures, and weapons systems as a preservative to prevent corrosion or deterioration. Rust removers are applied to metal surfaces to remove rust. Corrosion inhibitors used by the DoD generally contain petroleum or wax compounds, volatile solvents, and organic or inorganic corrosion inhibiting compounds and are typically not biodegradable. These corrosion inhibitors are often difficult to remove, may interfere with the use of the associated part or system, contain hazardous materials, and can drip, resulting in potential ground and water contamination. Rust removers used by the DoD often present higher hazards than biobased alternatives. Biobased corrosion inhibitors and rust removers have potential performance and Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health (ESOH) advantages over petroleum-based corrosion inhibitors and traditional rust removers. Biobased corrosion inhibitors are typically non-toxic and many are biodegradable and contain little or no Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Biobased rust removers present a lower hazards profile compared to traditional products, with most being non-toxic and biodegradable.

A biobased corrosion inhibitor and rust remover demonstration plan was developed to outline the demonstration activities to be performed, identify site performance requirements and the key performance criteria, as well as select the products to be evaluated. Demonstration sites were provided a supply of the biobased inhibitors / rust removers for use in their operations and asked to provide feedback on the product performance. Table 2 contains the key performance criteria that the DoD stakeholders established to evaluate and validate that the biobased RBC product met the participants’ requirements. The demonstration sites evaluated the performance of the biobased corrosion inhibitor / rust remover products and provided feedback on product performance.

Table 2: Demonstration Performance Criteria

Criteria	Parameters
Corrosion Mitigation Efficiency (corrosion inhibitors)	Oxidation assessment Quantity of corrosion inhibitor product used
Cleaning Efficiency (rust removers)	Cleaning time Quantity of rust remover products used
Ease of Use (corrosion inhibitors)	Ease of application
Ease of Use (rust remover)	Ease of application Overall cleaning effort
User Safety/Friendliness (corrosion inhibitors and rust removers)	Odor Eye irritation Respiratory irritation Skin irritation

Demonstration Results

The participating demonstration sites reported mixed results on the performance of the biobased corrosion inhibitor and rust remover products compared to baseline corrosion inhibitors and rust removers used in various applications. Overall, the following feedback was reported for each performance criterion.

• Corrosion Mitigation Efficiency: Overall, the biobased corrosion inhibitor products ability to mitigate corrosion was satisfactory and met demonstration site performance requirements in comparison to baseline products.
• Rust Removal Efficiency: For the two sites demonstrating the biobased rust remover products, the biobased rust remover products did not meet performance requirements to efficiently remove rust compared to the baseline products.
• Product Use Quantity: Overall, the biobased corrosion inhibitor and rust remover products required the same or more product quantity per application compared to the baseline products.
• Ease of Product Application: Overall the biobased corrosion inhibitor and rust remover product ease of application was the same or better than the baseline products and met the performance requirement for ease of use.
• User Safety/Friendliness: Overall the biobased corrosion inhibitor and rust remove products met user safety/friendliness performance requirements. There were no reported issues with the odor of the biobased products. No eye, respiratory, or skin irritation issues were reported.

Overall, the biobased corrosion inhibitor and rust remover products met the performance requirements of some but not all of the demonstration facilities. The biobased corrosion inhibitor and rust remover demonstration identified areas where the performance of the biobased corrosion inhibitors and rust removers could be improved for use by DoD facilities.