The glossary below contains common terminology used with USB New Uses. Feel free to let us know if you have any questions or additions to this glossary.

A-E | F-L | M-P | R-Z

RACT – Reasonably Available Control Technology. An interim phase of control standards for an industry. Many of our target industries are currently operating at this level but face new MACT standards.

RCRA – Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Section 6002 of this act constitutes the EPA Procurement Guidelines

RIM – Reaction Injection Molding

RMP – Risk Management Program. EPA may require a business to have an RMP if use of toxic or flammable substances exceeds threshold levels. This can be an expensive and burdensome requirement for small businesses.

RTM – Resin Transfer Molding

SAE – Society of Automotive Engineers

SCAQMD – South Coast Air Quality Management District. Sets rules for ambient air quality Southern California attainment area. They may (and do) set emissions standards in excess of the EPA standards under CAA and NAAQS. They also must comply with the state board (CARB) which defines testing procedures.

SIP – State Implementation Plan

SNAP list – Significant New Alternatives Policy. An EPA program of defining desirable substitutes for environmentally undesirable products, with specific emphasis on ODCs.. Current emphasis is on solvents in adhesives, cleaning compounds and coatings/inks to replace ODS.

soy methyl ester – see methyl soyate

SPCC – Spill Control and Countermeasure. All facilities that store potentially dangerous materials, including oils, must have an SPCC plan. This currently applies to vegetable oil as it does to petroleum. The National Oil Producers Association petitioned for exemptions to the planning requirements of SPCC for vegetable oil storage tanks. The petition was denied in 1999, though the countermeasures and cleanup requirements for vegetable oils are less stringent and expensive than for petroleum products. The Coast Guard, which inspects and controls oil storage adjacent to navigable waters, has exempted vegetable oil storage from some planning and reporting requirements.

stearic acid 18:0 – saturated fat (no double bonds) and 18 carbons.

STLE – Society of Tribologists and Lubricating Engineers

surfactants – surface-active agent (emulsifiers, wetting agents, detergents)

telomers – vegetable oil based lubricant viscosity modifiers

thermoset – plastic which cannot be reformed by reheating, also an adhesive which requires heat to set it.

TPY – tons per year – unit used to measure emissions such as VOC and/or NOx emissions from a source.

TRI – Toxic Release Inventory. This sets reporting requirements for both air emissions (HAPs and ODC) and water emissions.

tribology – the study of friction and means to control it, as by lubrication

triglyceride – a type of oil or fat containing three fatty acid chains and 1 glycerin.

transesterfication – reaction where the alkoxy group of an ester is exchanged with that of another, higher alcohol to form the new ester product.

TSCA – Toxic Substances Control Act

UF – Urea-formaldehyde - petroleum based adhesive

USB – United Soybean Board

VOC – volatile organic compounds (VOC or VOCs) – any substance which evaporates at normal temperatures and contains carbon. When combined with other emissions, particularly NOx, they form smog. Standards for VOCs from factories and from other volatile substances like cleaning compounds and coatings have been or are being set under the CAA. In September 1999 61 categories of coatings will fall under new regulations issued by EPA in September 1998.