Extending Chemistry Life with Microfiltration and Ultrafiltration

The cost of acquiring and disposing of cleaning chemistry is usually a major contributor to the overall cost of an industrial or precision cleaning process.  Removing contaminants from cleaning solutions can potentially extend their useful life and reduce overall cleaning costs.  Traditional filters including those of the bag and cartridge variety are commonly used to remove solid (particulate) contaminants …

Chemical Concentration – Economic and Process Considerations (cont.)

My previous blog addressed the chemical cost of using too much (or perhaps too little) “soap” in a cleaning process based on chemical cost.  Today we look at process issues. You might be saying, “What the heck?  So I use too much chemical.  Soap is cheap and I look at it as “insurance”.”  Well, that “insurance” …

Chemical Concentration – Economic and Process Considerations

I have talked before on the blog about the subject of chemical concentration and its relationship to cleaning.  A couple of recent incidents prompt me to re-address the subject of chemical concentration but from a little different angle. It’s a “no-brainer” that cleaning chemicals are expensive and, with the possible exception of heat and labor, …

Washing Clothes With Ultrasonics

Blackstone Ultrasonics was founded in the mid 1950’s in the hope that the addition of ultrasonic agitation to a conventional clothes washer would revolutionize laundering of fabrics.  It didn’t take long before it was recognized that ultrasonic techniques weren’t going to be effective – at least not by simply adding ultrasonic transducers to a conventional …

Rinsing – Better Rinsing Using Less Water

It is no secret that good cleaning followed by poor rinsing can be worse than not rinsing (or cleaning) at all.  A single-use rinse using a fresh water spray or a high flow rate or single use immersion rinse are often thought to provide the ultimate rinse.  These options, however, are often extremely expensive because they consume …

Sorting Out Filtration – Filter Types and Media Selection for Increased Filter Life

If a filter is doing its job, its life will be limited.  Eventually it will have filtered out and collected enough particles to be severely restricted or totally block liquid flow.  When this happens, the filter or filtration media must be replaced.  A clogged filter will, at minimum, have process consequences as particle accumulations build up …

From Rags to Rinses

It will come as no surprise to anyone who is involved with industrial parts cleaning that rinsing is an expensive but important part of the process.  Although it may not reduce your wardrobe to “rags,” proper rinsing can put a sizeable dent in the cleaning budget.  Let’s talk a minute about how to reduce the cost of rinsing. The …