Biodegradable · Natural · Alternative · Chemistry
BNAC was built around a simple idea: industry should not have to choose between a product that works and a product that is safer for people and the environment.
Our founder's interest in chemicals began close to home. His father worked in agricultural chemicals, and he went on to work with industrial chemistry in areas such as powder coating and metal finishing. Over time, he saw how often powerful chemicals were used without enough attention to the people handling them.
One moment stayed with him: seeing a customer use methylene chloride to clean his hands. It was a clear reminder that the way things had always been done was not necessarily the best — or safest — way.
That experience shaped our approach. We listen to the people doing the work, identify the real problem, and collaborate with chemical manufacturers, customers and technical partners to develop practical alternatives — solutions that perform in real working conditions while reducing unnecessary risk, waste and environmental impact.
In 2003, BNAC was asked to develop a paint stripper that could remove paint off wheel masks. After 14 months of testing and working alongside engineers on site, we developed our Bio Strip — replacing the methylene chloride that had been used for the job. Over the next 12 years we kept improving the formula, making it more effective and less expensive. That work made Canadian Auto Parts Toyota our very first customer.
Canadian Auto Parts Toyota asked us to help in other areas too. The coolant running in their CNC machines was giving off a nasty bacteria smell that filled the entire plant, clung to everything, and came home with people on their clothes. We took on the challenge and found a cutting fluid made in Calgary that would not go rancid and did not create the off-gassing that had been happening. At that point we introduced our Degrease & Clean, which proved to be an effective way to clean up all the oil spills and machine shop grime. To this day, Canadian Auto Parts Toyota personnel still call and order Degrease/Clean for personal use.
Marine customers needed a bilge and deck cleaner that wouldn't emulsify oil into the water, which makes separation harder and can need extra treatment chemicals. BNAC developed a cleaner around that need. A Seaspan environmental representative's response: “Where have you been all my life?”
VIA Rail needed to etch concrete floors before painting. Instead of muriatic acid and its hazardous fumes, BNAC found a product that etches concrete without the same off-gassing, while delivering the performance the job requires.
Struvite buildup in passenger rail sewage tanks could harden like concrete and dramatically reduce capacity. BNAC helped develop BioTherm Eliminator, a sewage bioremediation treatment, to attack it — turning the deposits into liquid after just a few hours. These sewage holding tanks were partly filling up with struvite and couldn't make the cross-country trip without having to empty the tanks. In testing on a single one-week cross-Canada trip, BioTherm Eliminator cleared the sewage sludge and struvite from 90-gallon tanks. In the photos below, the struvite sits like concrete on the left, and the right shows pooling liquid after treatment. By removing the struvite, BNAC gave VIA Rail the space it needed. BioTherm Eliminator is suited to wastewater systems on trains, ships and anywhere human waste needs to be temporarily stored.
Seaspan staff challenged BNAC to beat conventional solvents on odour, vapours and fire safety. Working with the people who'd use it, BNAC developed a water-based replacement, in use at five Seaspan locations for roughly 12 years.
Work on long-life, biodegradable hydraulic fluids for critical water infrastructure, including dams and filtration facilities, where reliability matters as much as environmental performance.
Metro Vancouver's dams and water system ↗When Global Container Terminals' predecessor company decided to implement environmentally friendly products, finding a suitable replacement hydraulic fluid came with a learning curve, says Serguei Bazov, Maintenance Superintendent at GCT's Vanterm operation. Container-handling equipment such as spreaders run on hydraulic oil and are always in use, so a green alternative had to perform at the same level. Bazov's team ran a year-long test of Panolin, supplied by BNAC, after trying other products in previous years. With up to 22 pieces of equipment each taking up to 150 litres of fluid, changing over was expensive, so storage drums and equipment were clearly recorded, documented and labelled. Bazov said the product's technical attributes mattered as much as the supplier's service, citing BNAC staff working alongside his team when the new fluid was applied for the first time. Kept properly filtered, Panolin lasts 10 to 20 times longer than conventional bio and mineral oils — which is why, as BNAC President Chris Richardson puts it, “going green saves money.”
The hydraulic drive that turns the London Eye runs on Panolin. In 20 years of service — roughly 100,000 operating hours — the fluid has never been changed, while the wheel carries about 3.5 million visitors every year.
BC Hydro, Innergex B.C.'s second largest power producer run on hydraulic fluid supplied by BNAC.
Canadian Auto Parts Toyota (CAPTIN) honoured BNAC Environmental Solutions with its 3 Star Supplier Award in 2006 and 2007 — the last two years the supplier awards program ran.
Each project began with a real operational challenge — not a sales pitch. We worked to understand what was failing, what the people on site needed, and what a better outcome would look like. Then we brought the right chemistry and partners together.
Our approach was almost like that of a naturopath: asking questions, understanding the underlying problem, and finding out what the end result needed to be. That is why some clients came to call Chris Richardson an “Industrial Naturopath.”
Listen carefully, solve the real problem, and make a better way work in the real world.