For many of us the smell of a new car is as sweet as a rose named victory, but for an increasing number of people it smells like a toxic dump. Those people may be on to something too, as there is also an increasing interest in the possible risks of that once beloved aroma.
Sure you could smoke cigars while your soaking wet dog rolls around in the back seat to get rid of that smell, but that’s time-consuming and only masks the potentially hazardous chemicals causing the scent. That’s why Japanese chemical company, Tosoh, are well on their way to producing an environmentally-friendly way to rid your car of its new smell.
New car smell has long been considered by many one of the greatest smells known to mankind. However, over time the actual smell of a new car has changed quite a bit as automobile manufacturing has evolved. Rich Corinthian leather upholstery, snazzy wood paneling, and steel frames have all given way to a variety of polymers with names over 20 letters long.
Tosoh’s new product is called Rzeta, a name which we have no idea how to pronounce. It’s being called an “amine-based eco-friendly urethane foam catalyst” – spoken like a true petrochemical producer. According to their slightly more layman-friendly description, Rzeta acts as a catalyst to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the polyurethane components in modern cars. VOCs are chemicals that have a very low boiling point and are slowly released into the air from certain materials like paint or in this case polyurethanes. The “new car smell” of modern cars is said to be largely generated by VOCs released from inside its polymer based components. So by removing the VOCs from your car, Rzeta removes the smell of the VOCs.
Production of Rzeta is still down the line, however, as the company has only begun construction of its production facility this month. Tosoh plans to have it on the market in November of 2014. So all you new-car-smell-lovers, get a good whiff of a new car while you still can. It may be extinct in the near future.
Source: Tosoh via Cliccar (Japanese)
Image: Amazon