Removing Fish Oil Residues

Q. We would like to have neutral foaming cleaning agent to clean fish oil and gelatin residue. We will also need a validatable method to test residue.

A. We would recommend you evaluate Liquinox® Critical Cleaning Liquid Detergent. Liquinox is a neutral pH range, high foaming concentrated cleaner. We would recommend 1-2% concentrations (dilute it 1-2:100 or 10-20 mL/L to use it). For fish oil and gelatin I would use a hot solution to clean with followed by a hot rinse. Note that fish oil can have a very persistent odor.  This indicates that the fish oil residue, at least in part, remains.

Using a neutral range cleaner to remove fish oils, you may need to clean more than once, or you may need to clean once very thoroughly. You may need to use a very hot water solution for the best results. Be sure your first rinse is as hot or hotter than your cleaning solution so as to avoid hitting the surface with a cold rinse that will break the emulsion of residual oil and cause it to redeposit.

For automated cleaning requiring a low foaming detergent, we would recommend Alcojet® Low Foaming Powdered Detergent or Detojet® Low Foaming Liquid Detergent, depending on your needs for a powder or liquid concentrate respectively.    These detergents employ oxidation cleaning and chelation/hydrolysis, respectively, mechanisms to help eliminate lingering organoleptic (odor) residues.

If the requirements for neutral, foaming detergents are flexible, the oxidation mechanisms in the Alcojet (first choice) and Detojet detergents would be the preferred choice for removing these oily, odor persistent residues.  These would again be use at high temperatures 60-70C or higher (160-170F) and 1-2%.

We are happy to discuss your process needs and provide residue detection methods for your specific needs at any time.  The following whitepapers will provide such guidance as well:

• The Applications in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing White Paper
• The Cleaning Validation for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing White Paper
• Cleaning Validation References

To request 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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