Clean Source Newsletter Archive

If you want to make an omelet, you have to break eggs. If you want to clean parts effectively, you have to disrupt the environment near the product surface. Cleaning means accessing the part surface, removing the soil from the vicinity of the part, and keeping the soil away from […]

(These comments have been submitted to the EPA amended TSCA docket regarding 1-BP and related solvents.) We have reviewed rules and proposed rules for1-BP, MC, TCE, and PCE and are making suggestions to EPA as a possible win-win approach. The proposed rule for 1-BP (nPB), includes a number of interesting, […]

Note: Analysis and comments reflect the status as of August 31, 2024. Specifically, a final rule for MC has been issued and proposed rules for PCE, TCE and nPB (1-BP) have been published. “Survival of the fittest” is a tenet of Charles Darwin’s evolution of species. Many United States manufacturers […]

Manufacturers are in a fascinating, frightening era. It is also an era with excellent opportunities for growth. There are problems galore. Critical cleaning processes are changing, sometimes in unexpected, uncontrolled ways. Reliable, effective cleaning agents that have been used successfully are being restricted or eliminated. Replacement cleaning agents typically require […]

Barb Kanegsberg with Kevin Pawlowski* As indicated in a recent LinkedIn post (Ref 1), perchloroethylene “creeps” – it has favorable wetting properties that allow access to residue in tight spaces. Many classic chlorinated and brominated solvents have similar “creeping” or wetting properties; and they have aggressive solvency properties – they […]

It would be terrific to have a numerical comparison of how effective various cleaning agents are at removing soils. Can you pick a single number to choose the best cleaning agent? Manufacturers have come to rely on the Kauri-Butanol (Kb) number as an indication of cleaning agent strength. Suppliers of […]

Chemophobia pervades our society. Should you fear 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde? Not in tiny amounts, not if you enjoy cookies. A shorter name is vanillin, the primary chemical in vanilla extract. We fear chemicals because they have complicated names and often have fancy structures. Fear of an individual chemical leads to demonization of […]

To solve critical cleaning problems, be a preschooler. Ask: Why? Ask: What’s that? The source of the critical cleaning problems may be hiding in plain sight. A process might not be identified as cleaning; no one may think about it as cleaning. We were asked to improve a final aqueous […]

[This article appeared in Clean Source, October 2016] Never use a consumer/automotive cleaning agent for precision cleaning high-value product. True or false Quick! True or false. This is a timed test, and you will be graded. I hate true/false tests; there’s no room for nuance. In critical and precision cleaning, […]

The term “degreaser“ is confusing. Any cleaning chemistry or cleaning process that removes oils and greases is doing the task of degreasing. Degreasing chemicals might be water based with additives that promote dissolving non-polar substances. They may be organic solvents which inherently have solubility for oils. The term degreaser is […]

To The Cleaning Lady, nostalgia includes hand-grating potatoes for Chanukkah latkes; and bandaging the inevitable minor knuckle scrapes. Nostalgia includes one lonely Menorah with orange candles set high on a mantlepiece (the elders were afraid that the Cleaning Lady would set fire to the house). Nostalgia for The Rocket Scientist […]

Product manufacturers are likely to change the product cleaning process in the next two to five years. Regulatory happenings, notably from the U.S. EPA Amended TSCA and PFAS concerns may mean that well-established cleaning agents are not available. As a result, manufacturers may be drawn into a frenzied effort to […]