Detergents

Q. I work at a museum and my current project is to remove both oxidation of copper and what I assume are residues from calcareous water from a valuable, antique sink. From the XRF-analysis, I have identified the sink as having a copper base with a zinc-nickel plating. My primary concern is that I need to preserve the “used” and dull appearance on the sink and not achieve a shiny, “like new” result.

Q. We have been using your Detojet detergent in our lab dishwasher all year long. However, recently, we have been having issues with our dishware not getting clean. Have there been any changes made to the Detojet formula? Any ideas why this is occurring? A. Detojet® Low Foaming Liquid Detergent has not had any formation or formulation changes, so we can remove that out of the equation in solving for the source of your new problem. There are, however, many other aspects to consider….

Q. White spots appear on our stainless steel parts the day after cleaning with Alconox. Right after we clean them, they are dry and visually clean. So, is this next-day residue from the Alconox detergent? If not, can you tell us why this is happening? A. It is fairly unlikely that visually clean parts have Alconox residues suddenly appearing the next day.  In addition to Alconox being free rinsing, any residue that did not get rinsed for whatever reason, would be visible fairly immediately.

Most people in similar situations, even though the parts appear “dry and visually clean,” find that the spots are from water.

Q. What can be used to manually clean salicylic acid lotions, creams, emulsions from manufacturing equipment?
A. In general salicylic acid is best cleaned by sodium phosphate or alkali citrate salt containing cleaners. Lotions and creams are often best cleaned by high alkaline cleaners.

Q: We understand from your literature, that pre-soaking in a solution prior to washing is a good idea.  We are washing pipettes in a syphon washer using your Alcotabs.  Can we create an Alcotabs solution for the pre-soak?  A 1%?…