How to: Clean Carbomer

Q: We are having difficultly cleaning carbomer gel residue from our equipment.  What do you recommend?

A: Carbomer or polyacrylic acid is a thickening agent, used to stabilize and provide the base for many ointments, cremes and lotions.  As one might guess, it is a difficult residue.  In the presence of water it can thicken and become a gelatinous, sticky gel.  A goo. When feasible, removing excess carbomer with water flushes/spray downs has been shown to be very successful.  Remaining residue can be cleaned either with high foaming detergents like our powerfully emulsifying Detonox® Ultimate Precision Cleaner or high pressure spraying or other applications where a low foaming detergent is required with Solujet® Low-Foaming Phosphate-Free Liquid.  Both would be recommended with warm to hot solutions at 1-2%.  Thorough rinsing would then follow.

Optimization of temperature, duration and concentration can be done based on your individual application.

We have some customers which have found success with a 1:1 blend of Detonox and Solujet to combine an emulsifying mechanism along with alkaline hydrolysis. 

We are happy to discuss your specific application any time.