Industrial Detergent for Lubricating Greases and General Soils

The Challenge

A leading company in the food industry contacted us with the need to identify an industrial detergent capable of removing lubricating greases and general soils from a chain that transports food products inside a cooking oven. With each production campaign, the plant must be stopped, cleaned in every part, and then restarted.

Among the parts that require more careful and thorough cleaning are the transmission chains, which are normally lubricated with high-temperature-resistant greases and, due to their morphology, are subject to the deposition of environmental soils such as dust, particulates that sublimate during the cooking process, etc.

The client, at the time of purchasing the plant, had provided a dedicated washing chamber, located in a peripheral area, where there is the possibility of continuously washing the chain.

In the aforementioned chamber, there are several stages: in the first stage, the lubricating grease detergent solution, appropriately heated, is sprayed by means of a hydraulic circuit equipped with appropriately positioned spray nozzles. In the second stage, the chain is rinsed with running water using the same system, in order to remove detergent residues, and in the last stage, the chain is dried by blowing with hot air.

The client would like to use a highly effective industrial detergent for soils, which can clean in the shortest possible time, is easily rinsed, and, given the delicate context, has the lowest possible environmental impact.

Our Solution

Cleaning a part means removing all organic and inorganic residues from its surface.

Lubricating grease detergents, in addition to relying on chemical action, can synergistically exploit the physical action of temperature, as well as the mechanical action produced by sprays, high-pressure jets, and ultrasound.

In this specific case, examining some chain links received in our laboratory, we found that on their surface, there were significant amounts of aged grease due to time and high temperatures produced by the oven and various types of particulates.

We began testing some general soil detergents already in our production, trying to identify the detergent capable of acting in the shortest possible time against the contaminants to be removed.

The product, in addition to having excellent detergent properties, must also have the prerogative of being low-foaming or, as it is said in jargon, foam-inhibited, as it must be used in a closed circuit with a pressure of 4-5 Bar; it must also be easily rinsed.

Identifying the product suitable for the purpose was not immediate and some tests were necessary in an attempt to reconcile all the client’s needs.