Replace Toluene, Xylene in Cleaning

Q: We had a small fire incident in our lab when working with toluene and xylene.  We are now going with safer aqueous detergents and will replace toluene and xylene as cleaning agents.  What do you recommend for hydrocarbons from lab and glassware?

A: For removing hydrocarbons from lab and glassware, hot (60-80C / 140-175F) Alconox® Powdered Precision Cleaner or Liquinox® Critical Cleaning Liquid Detergent should do a great job, and have no flammability concerns.  The former is a powder, and the latter a liquid concentrate detergent.  Both will perform quite similarly, and it is largely a format preference.

The detergents are also drain safe, biodegradable and will be completely free rinsing.

We can do more than simply replace toluene and xylene.  We can replace isopropyl alcohol and ethanol based cleaning, and other flammable, hazardous solvents.  As many industries begin to shun the hazards of solvents and other harsh cleaning agents, we are glad to assist in determining the optimal, safer, aqueous detergent replacement.  Contact us any time!

Further, solvents just have one avenue of attack, solvating.  Detergents on the other hand bring many cleaning mechanisms to bear, including: emulsification, chelation, dispersion, sequestration and wetting.

To request these or any Alconox Inc. detergents for free, please complete the questionnaire at Get Sample. For more information about any one of our Alconox Inc. detergents, consult the technical bulletin for each product. Or click here to access each of our detergent’s  Safety Data Sheets.

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