Methods for cleaning industrial equipment with pre-treatment
AssigneeEcolab USA Inc.
InventorsBrandon Leon Herdt, Peter J. Fernholz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of cleaning equipment such as heat exchangers, evaporators, tanks and other industrial equipment using clean-in-place procedures and a pre-treatment solution prior to the conventional CIP cleaning process. The pre-treatment step improves the degree of softening of the soil, and thus facilitates its removal. The pre-treatment solution can be a strong acidic solution, a strong alkaline solution, or comprise a penetrant. A preferred strong acidic solution is an acid peroxide solution. In some embodiments, the pre-treatment may include no strong alkali or acid ingredient; rather, the penetrant provides acceptable levels of pre-treatment.
Claims10
A method of cleaning soils from industrial equipment having a heat exchanger using a CIP process, the method comprising:
- (a) applying an acidic pre-treatment solution to the soil, the solution comprising
- 0.25 to 1.5 wt. % acid;
- 0.01 to 1 wt. % oxidant;
- and 0.05 to 10 wt. % of a penetrant selected from the group consisting of alcohols, short chain ethoxylated alcohols, phenol, organic solvents, ethoxylated alcohols, glycol ethers, and surfactants;
- (b) allowing the pre-treatment solution to partially remain on the soil for a period of time sufficient to facilitate soil removal;
- (c) circulating a first heated solution through the equipment, the solution comprising about 0.5 wt. % of an alkaline detergent comprising NaOH;
- wherein there is not a rinse step between applying the pre-treatment solution and applying the first solution;
- and
- (d) rinsing the equipment.
A method of cleaning soil from industrial equipment having a heat exchanger using a CIP process, the method comprising:
- (a) pre-treating the soil with a pre-treatment solution comprising at least 0.5 wt-% active ingredients, the active ingredients selected from the group consisting of an alkaline source, a penetrant, an oxidizer, a surfactant, a builder and mixtures thereof;
- and immediately thereafter
- (b) removing at least a portion of the pre-treated soil with a dilute acidic detergent solution;
- wherein there is a chemical reaction between the pre-treatment solution and the dilute detergent solution, and there is not a rinse step between applying the pre-treatment solution and applying the dilute detergent solution;
- and
- (c) rinsing the equipment.
A method of cleaning soils from industrial equipment having a heat exchanger using a CIP process, the method comprising:
- (a) applying a pre-treatment solution to the soil, the solution comprising
- 0.25 to 1.5 wt. % acid;
- 0.01 to 1 wt. % oxidant;
- and 0.05 to 10 wt. % penetrant selected from the group consisting of alcohols, short chain ethoxylated alcohols, phenol, organic solvents, ethoxylated alcohols, glycol ethers, and surfactants;
- (b) allowing the pre-treatment solution to partially remain on the soil for a period of time sufficient to facilitate soil removal;
- (c) circulating a first heated solution through the equipment after the pre-treatment solution, the solution comprising a dilute detergent;
- wherein there is not a rinse step between applying the pre-treatment solution and applying the first solution;
- and
- (d) circulating a second CIP solution through the equipment after the first solution;
- and then
- (e) rinsing the equipment.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.