Design ideas for water-based cleaning agent formulations

1 Formulation Design Ideas for Water-based Cleaning Agents

1.1 Selection of Systems

Common water-based cleaning agent systems can be divided into three types: neutral, acidic, and alkaline.

Neutral cleaning agents are mainly used in places that are not resistant to acids and alkalis. The cleaning process mainly uses the compounding of cleaning auxiliaries and surfactants to synergistically remove dirt from the surface of substrates.

Acidic cleaning is generally used for rust removal and oxide scale removal of metals. There are not many auxiliaries available under acidic conditions. Acidic cleaning mainly uses the reaction between acid and rust or oxide scale on the metal surface to peel off the dirt. At the same time, auxiliaries and surfactants are used to emulsify and disperse the cleaned dirt to achieve the cleaning purpose. Commonly used acids include nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, citric acid, oxalic acid, acetic acid, methanesulfonic acid, dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid, boric acid, etc. Alkaline cleaning is most widely used in industrial cleaning. Because alkali itself can saponify vegetable oils to form hydrophilic saponified substances, it is very suitable for cleaning oil stains. Commonly used alkalis include NaOH, KOH, sodium carbonate, ammonia water, alkanolamines, etc.

1.2 Selection of Auxiliaries

In industrial cleaning, we refer to additives that are helpful for cleaning effects as cleaning auxiliaries, which include chelating dispersants, corrosion inhibitors, defoamers, antiseptic fungicides, enzyme preparations, pH stabilizers, etc. Commonly used auxiliaries are divided into the following categories:

Chelating dispersants: phosphates (sodium pyrophosphate, sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium metaphosphate, sodium phosphate, etc.), organic phosphates (ATMP, HEDP, EDTMP, etc.), alkanolamines (triethanolamine, diethanolamine, monoethanolamine, isopropanolamine, etc.), amino carboxylates (NTA, EDTA, etc.), hydroxyl carboxylates (citrates, tartrates, gluconates, etc.), polyacrylic acid and its derivatives (maleic- acrylic copolymer), etc.;

Corrosion inhibitors: oxide film type (chromates, nitrites, molybdates, tungstates, borates, etc.), precipitation film type (phosphates, carbonates, hydroxides, etc.), adsorption film type (silicates, organic amines, organic carboxylic acids, petroleum sulfonates, thiourea, urotropine, imidazoles, thiazoles, benzotriazoles, etc.);

Defoamers: organosilicon, polyether modified organosilicon, silicon-free defoamers, etc.

1.3 Selection of Surfactants

Surfactants play a very important role in industrial cleaning. They can reduce the surface tension of the system, improve the permeability of the product, and allow the cleaning agent to quickly penetrate into the interior of the dirt. They also have a dispersing and emulsifying effect on the oil stains that have been cleaned.

Commonly used surfactants are divided into the following categories:

Non-ionic: alkylphenol ethoxylates (NP/OP/ TX series), fatty alcohol ethoxylates (AEO series), isomeric alcohol ethoxylates (XL/XP/TO series), secondary alcohol ethoxylates (SAEO series), polyoxyethylene polyoxypropylene ether series (PE/RPE series), alkyl polyoxyethylene polyoxypropylene, polyoxyethylene ether capped series, fatty acid polyoxyethylene esters (EL), fatty amine polyoxyethylene ethers (AC), acetylenic diol ethoxylates, alkyl glycosides series, etc.;

Anionic: sulfonates (alkylbenzene sulfonates LAS, α-olefin sulfonates AOS, alkyl sulfonates SAS, succinate sulfonates OT, fatty acid ester sulfonates MES, etc.), sulfate esters (K12, AES, etc.), phosphate esters (alkyl phosphates, fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether phosphates, alkylphenol polyoxyethylene ether phosphates, etc.), carboxylates (fatty acid salts, etc.);

Cationic: quaternary ammonium salts (1631, 1231, etc.);
Amphoteric ions: betaines (BS, CAB, etc.), amino acids; ammonium oxides (OB, etc.), imidazolines.