Cool Clean is proud to have been invited by NASA to participate in an upcoming event at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt in Maryland as part of the Mechanical Systems Division, specifically the Contamination and Coatings Engineering Branch.
NASA Contamination and Coatings Engineering Branch
This branch of NASA supports projects with a cleanliness and coatings program that allows the science community to accurately obtain scientific measurements required for mission success. The focus is on preventing spacecraft performance degradation and promoting development of new technologies.
They hold facility tours, bring in keynote speakers, run workshops, and schedule vendor demonstrations based on new technology and applications in contamination control, materials, thermal coatings, and planetary protection. A new event they are introducing is the Contamination, Coatings, Materials, and Planetary Protection Workshop where multiple speakers and educations sessions will be available to learn about new technology surrounding the industry.
Contamination, Coatings, Materials, and Planetary Protection Workshop July 29-31, 2015
Our own Dr. Nelson Sorbo will be presenting on liquid carbon dioxide, or LCO₂ solvency & extraction equipment and how they apply to solvent extraction of organic materials. The biggest advantage of using LCO₂ is the low levels of toxicity.
Liquid CO₂ is rightly considered a greener alternative over many traditional methods of extraction. The temperature required for the process is relatively low, enabling the extraction of a wide variety of compounds. These products include, but are not limited to, implants, catheters, silicone tubing, silicone disks, etc.
The LCO₂ is extremely stable and contaminants are miscible in liquid CO₂, making it very effective in cleaning for silicone based products. LCO₂ is more efficient than vacuum bake out systems and requires far less space and time (1 to 6 hrs vs 24 to 72 hrs). Furthermore, this process doesn’t harm the base materials and the liquid CO₂ used for cleaning is then recaptured after the cycle to be filtered for more testing.
Attend the workshop and view Dr. Nelson’s presentation on Day 2, July 30th at 11:35am.
