DTC Test Kits: Portable Quantitative Analysis
DTC Test Kits are a portable testing method for quantitatively analyzing thiocarbamic pesticides in wastewater and soil.
Our first product, a test kit for Sodium Dimethyldithiocarbamate, was among four finalists at the Chattanooga Test Counsel’s Early Innovator Awards. Since then, we’ve developed several thiocarbamate test kits which feature volumetric titration, spectrophotometry, colorimetry and simple test strips. DTC Test Kits also formulates, manufactures and sells several types of hand sanitizers called RANITIZAH.
Our test kits are reasonably priced, quick and easy to use. Our goal is to make sure that every company that uses DTC around the world has a quick and accurate method to analyze it. We also want to keep designing and manufacturing more accurate and state of the art kits – not only for DTC but for its sister molecule, DEDTC (diethyldithiocarbamate) – and other pesticides and herbicides that can end up in wastewater and soils.
History
Started as a division of Fowler Industrial Plating (FIP), FIP was and is still using a metal ion reducing agent known as Sodium Dimethyldithiocarbamate, or DTC (aka DMDTC). This reducing agent was developed by the Union Carbide Company as a pesticide/herbicide/fungicide after World War II, but in the 1970s it became known for its very effective wastewater treatment properties. Randy Fowler has been working with DTC since 1987 and developed the first test kit in 1989, after becoming fascinated with how the chemical works and the fact that there was no way to control or practically analyze it.
Between 2012 and 2015, Randy patented two methods to analyze DTC, which he fit into test kits. Another method and test kit is in development to analyze DTC that uses immersion test strips. The EPA has started to more closely regulate the use of DTC, and EPA divisions is some states are requiring companies have a method to quantitatively analyze DTC residuals in the wastewater of companies who use it in their pretreatment systems. That’s where we come in.
RANITIZAH
One of Randy’s first jobs was working as an autopsy assistant for Palomar Memorial Hospital in Escondido California. Protocol required that all transfer gurneys be wiped down with Isopropyl Alcohol, 65% solution, after transporting decedent patients from room to morgue. In time, he also began wiping his hands with isopropyl alcohol after removing gloves and for other cleaning. A friend and coworker suggested that it would be “really cool” if they added something to the alcohol to make it “not splash around.” The two friends began mixing it with a variety of emollients, including the juice from an aloe vera plant in Randy’s parents’ back yard, Surgilube Jelly and KY Jelly. At the time, the mixture was about 50% alcohol and about 50% emollient.
As hand sanitizers became more popular, Randy began using a much higher ratio of alcohol to emollient and incorporated the use of Carbomer 940 acrylic cross polymer as a suspending agent along with an aloe vera extract. Because Randy was born and raised in the southwest, he wanted to add cactus to the formula, so two species of cactus and California Ice Plant was added to the blend. In environmental circles, this plant is seen as an “invasive species,” yet it’s a plant that can be used to provide nutrients.