Combining Aqueous Detergents

Q. We are currently cleaning using 3% Detergent 8, 2% Citranox and 2% Liquinox in separate wash cycles with rinse cycles after each wash cycle. Would there be any issues if I combined the three detergents (using the same concentrations) into one wash cycle?

A. This is a great question that we get from time to time.  As a general statement, we do not recommend combining detergents. Detergents have different cleaning components and mechanisms,  including non-ionic/anionic surfactants, builders, chelators, free alkalinity etc.  

In this case in particular, mixing Citranox® Liquid Acid Cleaner and Detergent which is an acidic, low pH cleaner with either of the other detergents (both are on the basic side of the pH scale) would result in significantly reducing detergency.   For your 3 stage cleaning cycle in question, there should be a rinse between detergents, but it only needs to be a cursory rinse due to our detergents’ free-rinsing nature.

There are certain residues and circumstances where we have combined our detergents but these are an exception and require a thorough understanding of the application, residue, and cleaning mechanism.  Consult our free Aqueous Cleaning Handbook and/ or our Guide to Critical Cleaning for more information.

Would like further info or do you have any Technical Question for the Alconox Critical Cleaning team?  Then Click HERE to Ask Alconox

You can also request a free sample of Detergent 8, Citranox, Liquinox or any Alconox Inc. detergent by completing the questionnaire at Get Sample.