Food Manufacturing: How to Descale Safely and Effectively

Q: I am an engineer at a large food manufacturer. I have a couple of questions about Citranox regarding a descaling application.  Specifically looking for options for how to descale stainless steel channeling that can only be reached by pumping a liquid through.  Can a foaming detergent be used for pumping?  How much do I use? How is this better than citric acid?

A: The short answer regarding using a foaming detergent for pumping is it depends….. Foaming detergents can and have been used with pumping systems.  Foaming occurs when air is entrained into the detergent solution.  So the type of pump, flow rate, piping layout (and associated equipment) will all play factors.  We have, however, the low foaming equivalent of Citranox® Liquid Acid Cleaner and Detergent which is Citrajet® Low-Foam Liquid Acid Cleaner/Rinse.  You may want to evaluate both detergents as a foaming detergent will tend to clean a bit better than one that does not foam (all things being equal foaming surfactants emulsify better).

We recommend Citranox/Citrajet detergents at 2% concentration for descaling applications.  Scale is typically build up of inorganics, salts and the like, which is where acidic cleaners excel.  There are cleaning applications where higher concentrations are warranted.  This would include high residue amount applications.  Increasing concentration increases capacity or the amount of residue that can be carried away.  Rarely is higher than 5% required.

You are expected to get the same (and almost certainly better) descaling and other contaminant removal with a dilute solution of our acidic detergents compared to far higher concentrations of pure citric acid solutions.  This is because while a citric acid solution brings a single avenue of cleaning attack, acidity, the Alconox Inc. acidic detergents provide emulsification, chelation and sequestration to more comprehensively remove both organic and inorganic residues including scale.  That resolves not just how to descale in scale residues applications, but thoroughly clean as well.

To request these or any Alconox Inc. detergent 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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