CRW Development History

Over the years, the Chemical Reactivity Worksheet (CRW) has changed and evolved. The current version of the CRW is 2.0.2. Here's a list of the CRW's major changes, starting with the most recent.

If you have questions about the program or its versions, email the CRW Specialist.

Version 2.0.2 (March 20, 2009)

• Fixed a major bug in the "Custom Chemical" feature of version 2.0.1. The earlier version didn't allow the user to add new chemicals.

Version 2.0.1 (March 2, 2009)

• Released as a result of changes to the CRW's internal chemical database. Previously, there were 188 records in the chemical database that contained significant amounts of water, as aqueous solutions or mixtures such as explosives wetted with water to desensitize these materials. When assessing the chemical reactivity, we neglected to include the water portion of the mixture. These records are now consistent with the rest of the compatibility requirements for other materials in the database.

Version 2.0 (February 19, 2009)

• Provided a new FileMaker Runtime user interface, making the CRW compatible with the latest computer operating systems. This Filemaker Pro version replaced the earlier version, developed in the Oracle Media Objects Environment.
  
• Allows users to build a "Custom Chemical Database" containing all the materials that are present at your particular facility. This allows you to create records containing pertinent reactive hazard information for those chemicals. In addition, you can update the CRW's standard chemical database without affecting your custom chemical data.
  
• For any given mixture for which gases are predicted, CRW 2.0 presents the potential gaseous products, along with literature citations for those gases.
  
• For many of the predicted hazards, full literature citations are provided. The documentation is presented as a brief summary, with the citation for those who want to read the full description of the reported reaction.
  
• Water has been added to the CRW 2.0 available substances, and can be added to any chemical mixture by clicking a button on the Reactivity Worksheet window.

Version 1.9.2 (January 7, 2008)

• Made minor edits to the chemical database to match the latest version of CAMEOfm.

Version 1.9.1 (October 2007)

• Made edits to the data and changed the chemical compatability table.

Version 1.9 (April 6, 2007)

• Provided updates to the chemical data and Compatibility Chart, matching the data found in CAMEO version 1.2.

Version 1.8 (November 2006)

• Added new hazard text. Made edits to the data and changed the chemical compatability table.

Version 1.7 (February 2006)

• Provided 50-100 edits to general descriptions and case history information.
  
• Made some edits to the assignment of the reactive groups, and changed the wording for several hazard statements in the Compatibility Chart.

Version 1.6 (November 2004)

• Provided about 200 new chemicals with new case history information.
  
• Added data from experiments conducted at Argonne National Laboratory on the rates of reaction of about 50 "water reactive" substances.
  
• Discontinued the download option that allowed users to copy a version onto diskettes.

Version 1.5 (July 2002)

• Provided new case history information in the "Chemical Profile" field.
  
• Added special hazards to the compatibility chart.
  
• Updated the chemical data from the new CAMEOfm.
  
• Added a new hazard statement (B6) and some Glossary terms.
  
• Corrected formatting in the general description field, edited synonyms, and edited Chemical Abstract Service numbers.
  
• Discontinued the CRW version for Windows 3.1.

Version 1.4 (March 2001)

• Added 2,500 new chemicals to the CRW's database.
  
• Added chemical profiles and information about water reactivity for those new chemicals, along with new case study information about many of the chemicals in the CRW and information about the products that could be generated during some kinds of reactions.
  
• Fixed a bug in version 1.3 that caused incorrect hazard statements to appear in the Compatibility Chart.
  
• Sorted the database by name.

Version 1.3 (January 2001)

• Added a feature to show hazard statements in the Compatibility Chart.
  
• Made some changes to the chemical info cards.

Version 1.2

• Made edits to the data and changed the chemical compatability table.

Version 1.1

• Made minor interface changes just after the release of version 1.0.

Version 1.0

• The original CRW was developed in the Oracle Media Objects Environment. This version ran within the OMO Player, which dictated that the program be 16-bit.

Background

In 1980, the Hazardous Materials Management Section of the California Department of Health Services prepared a manual for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), titled "A Method for Determining Hazardous Waste Compatibility" (EPA 600/2-80-076; this manual is now out of print). In it was a compatibility matrix showing what could happen if members of 41 "Chemical Reactivity Groups" were mixed. The authors had assigned about 1,650 substances to reactivity groups. To use the chart, you identified the groups that included your substances of concern, and then, for a pair of those substances at a time, searched the chart to see what reaction could be expected if those two substances were mixed.

To develop the CRW, NOAA refined this basic procedure by

• computerizing the chart;
  
• modifying and adding to the original reactivity groups to create a new set of reactive groups, and adding many more chemicals;
  
• adding information about the air and water reactivity of individual substances;
  
• adding "case history" information for many of the individual substances (shown in the Chemical Datasheet section of each record in the CRW);
  
• soliciting peer review of the new reactive groups.