What Is AK-225 and Can I Use It for Cleaning?
AK-225 is also called HCFC-225 and has now been phased-out across most of the world. It would not be a good choice for modern cleaning processes.
To be fair, it has a few good points. It’s a moderately powerful. It works well in vapor degreasers. It is not flammable. It is not as aggressive on plastics as some other popular cleaners. Perhaps most importantly, it is not classified as a Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) so the air-quality regulators in Southern California think it is an excellent choice.
So what are the problems? First and foremost, HCFC-225 is an ozone-depleting substance. Specifically, it is a Class II Ozone-Depleting Substance under the U.S. Clean Air Act. It’s banned in Europe and the U.S. HCFC-225 also was has a fairly limited product line, with very few blends to enhance or expand the cleaning range of the product. So after doing all the work to specify a new cleaner, you soon will be faced with repeating the project to specify something that is available today and completely ozone-safe.
In our humble opinion, HCFC-225 is yesterday’s news. Select the MicroCare, Opteon, Vertrel or Tergo cleaners for a process you can use today, tomorrow and for years to come.