Thar Process, a provider of process-scale supercritical fluid technologies, has entered the precision parts cleaning R&D and toll processing market.
Todd PalcicOperating out of a new facility near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Thar Process seeks clients to resolve one of the industrial manufacturing sector’s greatest challenges: eliminating toxic, regulated solvents from precision cleaning workflows.
As global regulatory frameworks tighten on volatile organic compounds and halogenated solvents like trichloroethylene (TCE) and acetone, manufacturing sectors—from aerospace and automotive to medical devices and semiconductor fabrication—urgently need cleaner alternatives.
By using upcycled supercritical carbon dioxide (CO₂), Thar Process provides a deep-cleaning method that penetrates complex geometries to dissolve oils, lubricants, and particulate contaminants, leaving zero surface residue and avoiding the corrosion issues tied to water-based cleaning systems.
Thar Process’ unique business strategy centers around reducing high capital expenditure (CAPEX) barriers for its clients. The company allows customers to validate and scale their cleaning protocols through a complete single-point-of-contact pipeline:
- Contract R&D and Feasibility Testing
- Commercial Toll Processing
- Technology Transfer & Equipment Sales
“We started small by cleaning aerospace soft parts and advanced materials for separation science over the past 3 years, but now we have sold equipment solutions to Fortune 100 companies,” says Todd Palcic, CEO at Thar Process. “Now, it’s time to partner with precision parts cleaning experts and bring a toll processing model for those who want to walk before they run.”
He says that over the years, Thar Process has helped global corporations move away from hazardous chemicals in food and pharma.
“Transitioning our technology footprint into industrial parts cleaning and degreasing is a natural extension of our green chemistry capabilities and allows us to pivot away from costly FDA regulated processing,” Palcic says.
Thar Process was founded in 1990 by Dr. Lalit Chordia, who is now chairman. Along with its sister company, Thar Energy, it engineers solutions that use supercritical CO₂ across food, pharma, aerospace, and process heating and cooling. Supercritical CO2 behaves like a non-polar solvent but has distinct advantages over both solvents and aqueous + surfactant offerings because it has zero viscosity and surface tension.
Because CO₂ is fully recycled and captured at the end of each closed-loop cycle, the process eliminates wastewater generation and downstream solvent and surfactant removal and drying steps, resulting in a much lower total cost of ownership.
Visit https://www.tharprocess.com.
