Garlock Solvent Conversion

John Neubauer – Garlock Solvent Conversion Project

At our meeting on June 20, we welcomed Mr. John Neubauer of Garlock. He came to speak to us about Garlock’s Solvent Conversion Project, which was implemented to eliminate the use of Toluene in their manufacturing.

Garlock, a fixture in Palmyra for 125 years, has been working recently to be a “greener” company, by reducing waste and increasing recycling. Until recently, toluene was used extensively in the manufacture of rubber gaskets. Toluene was used because it could dissolve the rubber and was easy to recover for re-use. But it is toxic, and the decision was made to find a new solvent.

Enter tertiary butyl acetate or TBAc. Safer to use, TBAc has also proved to more efficient. It processes the rubber better, resulting in less scrap, and is easily recovered for re-use. It also has the potential to allow the manufacture of new styles and products which would not be possible using toluene as the solvent.

Garlock’s effort to go green have already been successful. In 2005, the plant produced 700,000 pounds of air pollution – 22% of the hazardous air pollutants in the state that year. In 2011, the output was less than 20,000 pounds. With the successful conversion to TBAc, nearly 100% of hazardous pollutants at the plant have been eliminated.


Nancy Schrader with our guest speaker John Neubauer