I. Methods to Make Cleaning Agents for Spray Cleaning Low-Foam or Foam-Free
Add defoamers: Commonly used types include silane-based defoamers, polyether-based defoamers and low-molecular-weight alcohol-based defoamers.
Select appropriate surfactants.
II. Three Main Methods for Surfactant Selection
Formulate with commonly used low-foam surfactants for spray cleaning: Polyether 2020, ethylene oxide-propylene oxide copolymer polyoxyethylene ether, soaps (such as triethanolamine oleate soap), Span series and Tween series.
Choose surfactants whose cloud point is close to the service temperature of the main surfactant in cleaning agents: Nonionic surfactants achieve the optimal cleaning performance near their cloud points. When the service temperature is slightly higher than the cloud point, efficient cleaning effect and low foam property can be realized simultaneously. Taking fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether surfactants as an example, their cloud points vary with different carbon chain lengths and EO chain lengths. Therefore, suitable fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ethers can be selected as the main surfactants of cleaning agents according to the actual service temperature.
Adopt professional low-foam surfactants specially designed for spray cleaning.
Post time: May-19-2026