SIMI VALLEY : Rocketdyne to Phase Out Cleaning Solvent

Rocketdyne, a division of Rockwell International that builds and tests rocket engines in the Simi Hills, announced Monday that it will no longer use an ozone-depleting solvent in its manufacturing and cleaning operations.

The solvent CFC-113--an industrial chemical that consists of fluorine, carbon and chlorine--is being replaced primarily with water-based cleaners, said Rocketdyne spokeswoman Lori Circle. The company’s action was taken in accordance with a federal law that will ban production of ozone-depleting substances by the end of 1995, Circle said.

Rocketdyne has used CFC-113, a compound similar to Freon, to clean rocket engines and other hardware for 30 years, officials said.

“This is a major milestone for Rocketdyne,” Steve Lafflam, Rocketdyne’s health and safety director, said in a prepared statement. “The use of CFC-113 was widespread throughout our operations.”

Rocketdyne’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory, located in the hills southeast of Simi Valley, manufactures the space shuttle’s main engines as well as Atlas and Delta rocket engines used to propel satellites into space.

For several years, Rocketdyne has been taking steps to scale back its use of CFC-113 as a cleaning solvent, Circle said. In 1989, the base-line year against which reductions were measured, the company was using about 11,000 gallons of the solvent, she said.

To further reduce and eliminate the need for industrial chemicals, Rocketdyne is building a $3.5 million water-based hardware cleaning facility that is expected to be completed by mid-1994.

Since 1989, Rockwell International has managed to reduce use of certain industrial chemicals in its overall operations by 60%, Circle said.