The Environmental Health, Safety, and Sustainability department has implemented the聽Environmental Protection Agency鈥檚聽聽regulating the use of dichloromethane/methylene chloride (DCM/MC).聽The new regulation聽does not ban the use of DCM/MC in research, nor does Vanderbilt have any intention to ban its use, but it does significantly increase the regulatory requirements for its use. Academic research laboratories must comply with these new requirements. More info about this new rule is available聽
Due to an 18-month extension of the original deadline dates promulgated by the EPA, the current DCM/MC compliance deadlines are as follows:
- 叠测听November 9, 2026, we must complete initial air monitoring/sampling of 鈥減otentially exposed persons鈥� user groups. This will require sampling the air in a person鈥檚 breathing zone of a representative sampling of individuals who use large amounts of DCM/MC (high-level users) and those who use small quantities (low-level users). If any sampling results are at or above the level established in the rule, then periodic air sampling is required for that person or user group (depending on the pervasiveness of sampling results exceeding limits) on either a 3-month or 6-month frequency.
- 叠测听February 8, 2027, no individual at Vanderbilt can be exposed above the very conservative limits set by the EPA.
- 叠测听May 10, 2027, VU must establish an Exposure Control Plan (ECP).聽
The updated rule with the deadline extension was finalized in November 2025 and can be found聽
At this time the least impactful course of action for VU labs is to find substitutes if at all possible and subsequently dispose of any DCM/MC currently in stock by notifying us by requesting a waste collection through聽; however, we recognize that substitution might not be possible in your聽lab鈥檚聽processes and聽we will聽strive to support you in incorporating these new requirements into your lab鈥檚 operations in the least impactful way possible. Only mixtures/products that include DMC/MC below 0.1% by weight are NOT subject to the restrictions in this regulation.聽
While there are lab processes that will continue to require the use of DCM/MC, suggested chemical substitutions are summarized below. If you have other suggestions, please email us at聽chemicalsafety@vanderbilt.edu聽and we will add them to the list.
Chromatography and extraction are good targets for substitution because they are two of the most common and high-volume laboratory tasks where DCM/MC is used.
- ACS Green Chemistry Institute has published resources on dichloromethane alternatives 鈥� See 鈥淒CM Alternatives & Resources鈥� at聽
- In a 2008 article in聽Green Chemistry, the Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) group at Pfizer Global Research and Development recommended聽聽with Ethyl Acetate/Hexane for chromatography and with Ethyl Acetate, MTBE, Toluene, or 2-MeTHF for extractions.
- 聽suggests a 3:1 ratio of ethyl acetate to ethanol as a starting point for creating new methods without DCM for chromatography purification.
- These articles from聽,听, and聽聽have additional information about this issue and its potential impact on colleges and universities.
If you would like to dispose of the DCM/MC in your lab, then please submit a waste collection request in EHS Assist.