Oven cleaners, chemicals

The perfumes consist of raw fragrances dissolved in aqueous ethanol. Functional products are in a different group, comprising detergents, shampoos, shower gels, and oven cleaners. Functional products have an elaborated chemically-reactive matrix that does not allow using traditional fragrances recourse is made to inexpensive, chemically inert, odoriferous materials. 

Household cleaning agents Some, like oven cleaners, are chemically very aggressive. 

Think twice before pouring this stuff down your drain or spraying in your oven. It s a strong, caustic substance that causes severe corrosive damage to eyes, skin, and mucous membranes, as well as the mouth, throat, esophagus, and stomach. Blindness is reported in animals exposed to as little as 2% dilution for just one minute. Skin is typically damaged by 0.12% dilutions for a period of one hour. Tests with healthy volunteers exposed to the chemical in spray from oven cleaners showed that respiratory tract irritation developed in two to fifteen minutes. Sodium hydroxide is included as a toxic chemical on the EPA s Community Right-to-Know list. It is also a controlled substance in the workplace, and OSHA has set limitations on concentrations in the air. 

Oven cleaning is not a job that most people enjoy. Removing baked-on grease from inside an oven requires serious scrubbing. Any chemical oven cleaners that help to make the job easier are usually welcome. Like all chemicals, however, the most effective oven cleaners require attention to safety. 

The nature of a chemical will, obviously, affect its disposition and its effects on the body (the nature of a chemical can be described in terms of its so-called physico-chemical characteristics). These various characteristics wiU affect both the site of exposure and the consequences of the exposure. A chemical may be a solid, a liquid, or a gas. A solid may be in solution in water, for example sugar in a cup of tea, or in another solvent, for example alcohol, which is used to dissolve the fragrances in perfume. Liquids may be volatile such as petrol or white spirit. A solid may be in the form of lumps, crystals (for example, salt), or very small particles. Furthermore, the chemical could be irritant or corrosive, such as an acid like battery acid (hydrochloric acid) or kettle descaler (formic acid), or an alkali like caustic soda (sodium hydroxide), which is found in oven cleaners. The latter may not be weU absorbed from any of the three sites of exposure but will stiU cause damage to the tissues with which they come into contact. Substances that are not at all soluble in fat wiU not be well absorbed, nor wiU substances that are very soluble in fat but not soluble in water. However, sufficient of the chemical may be absorbed for it to be toxic even if it is a very small amount. Substances that are soluble in fat wiU also be more readily distributed around the body and metabolized. 

Lye is used in household drain cleaners, ammonia, automatic dishwasher detergents, Clinitest tablets, oven cleaners, and bleaches. It is also used in the manufacture of soaps and cleaners and in chemical synthesis. 

Cleaning products are used regularly in most households These include dishwashing detergents, denture cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners, oven cleaners, drain cleaners, wood and metal cleaners and polishes, tub, tile, and shower cleaners, bleach and pool chemicals. Toxic chemicals contained in household cleaners include glycol ethers, aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons, surfactants, and heavy metals J32l... 

Sodium hydroxide, NaOH 25.83 Base Drain and oven cleaners manufacture of soap and chemicals... 

Products and Uses A chemical added in soap, bleach, drain cleaners, liquid fertilizers, oven cleaners, paint remover, varnish removers, cosmetic cuticle remover, shaving lotions, hand creams, and facial blushes. 

Although these days many people have "self-cleaning" ovens, if your oven gets really dirty you may have to resort to one of the spray-on oven cleaner preparations sold in supermarkets. What evidence is there that such oven cleaners work by a chemical reaction ... 

Microwaves have long been used in domestic ovens, but the application of this technology in chemical research and industry has been limited by safety and reproducibility issues. Nowadays, the latest equipment allows precise and safe control of the power both in batch and continuous reactions. It enables more energy-efficient heating as well as faster and cleaner chemical reactions (Loupy, 2002 Adam, 2003). 

Sodium hydroxide (NaOFI), also called lye, soda lye, or caustic soda to distinguish it from potassium hydroxide (potash lye), is another important base. Flistorically, lye was obtained from the ashes of wood and used to make soap. Lye, however, is an extremely caustic chemical. It can cause serious chemical burns if it comes into contact with the skin and permanent blindness if it gets into the eyes. People had to be very careful while making the soap. They also had to make sure they got the mixture of lye and animal fat (lard) correct to keep from hurting themselves and their families. Because of its caustic (corrosive) nature, sodium hydroxide is also used as the active ingredient in oven and drain cleaners. 

Milk of magnesia, which can be taken as an antacid medicine, is a base. The chemical name for milk of magnesia is magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2). Magnesium hydroxide can ease the discomfort caused by too much stomach acid. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) are also bases. These chemicals, sometimes called lye, and are used in making soap. Sodium hydroxide is also an ingredient of oven and drain cleaners. Bases feel slippery and have a bitter taste. 

Many experiments have shown that combustion of petroleum fuels is cleaner and more eflBcient if small water droplets are dispersed in the oil by ultrasonic, hydrodynamic, or chemical techniques (21). The presence of the water leads to a lower generation of nitrogen oxides and to less soot, probably because of lower combustion temperatures and better fuel atomization. The most tested system is a mechanical one for furnaces and ovens produced by the French oil company, ELF (22). 

Animal fat and oil processors Animal manure removers Artificial-flavour makers Asphalt storage workers Barium carbonate makers Blast furnace workers Brewery workers Bromide-brine workers Cable splicers Caisson workers Carbon disulphide workers Cellophane producers Chemical laboratory workers (lecturers, students, technicians) Cistern cleaners Citrus root fumigators Coal gasification workers Coke oven workers Copper-ore sulphidisers Depilatory makers Dye-makers Excavators Felt makers... 

In the consumer products and appliances market, PMMA can be used in applications such as dishes, salad bowls, salt cellars, pepper pots, scales, covers, doors for microwave ovens, washing machine windows and control panels, and vacuum cleaner windows. PMMA provides transparency, very high impact resistance, chemical resistance and a high gloss finish. It is also resistant to most aqueous, inorganic and saline solutions, as well as grease, mineral oils and many solvents. 

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