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Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Biocompatibility for Medical Device Cleaning Validation

Question:
What types of biocompatibility data does Alconox, Inc. provide for detergents commonly used in medical device cleaning validation?

Answer:
Setting residue acceptance limits as part of your medical device cleaning validation is much easier when appropriate biocompatibility data is available about the critical cleaning detergent you are using. To help assess the biological effects of cleaner residues, Alconox, Inc. conducted extensive evaluations of biocompatibility of its LIQUINOX and CITRANOX detergents. Along with the typical oral toxicity data, Alconox also provides dermal irritation, dermal sensitization, intracutaneous injection, cytotoxicity, and systemic injection toxicity data. These types of relevant data will assist you in setting the most scientific and exposure specific residue acceptance limits. As a result, the derived limits are more practical to achieve, as they are not based on conservative estimates.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Shipping Corrosive Liquids

Question:
How can I ship cleaners that are corrosive liquids by air?

Answer:
The three corrosive liquid cleaners that need proper packaging for air shipment are: Detojet, Solujet, and Detergent 8. These three cleaners can be shipped by air in the 5 gallon (19 L) jerrycan size. The 4X1 gallon (3.8 L) case or the 12X1 quart (0.95 L) are combination packages that are not suitable for air transport. To ship by air you must use the jerrycan size. The catalog numbers for these three cleaners are Detojet = manufacturer catalog number 1605; Solujet manufacturer catalog number 2105; and Detergent 8 = manufacturer catalog number 1705. The proper shipping name, hazard class and other hazmat shipping information can be found on any of the msds for any of these cleaners. The msds are available at the top center of any page on the Alconox website at www.alconox.com.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Removing wax or petrolatum from glassware

Question:
What is the best way to remove wax or petrolatum from pipettes and other glassware?

Answer:
The best way to clean wax and petrolatum from pipettes and other glassware is to use very hot, emulsifying 1% solutions of cleaners such as Alconox or Liquinox. By very hot, I mean above the melting point, or at least above the softening point of the wax. Typically this can be reached at 170 deg F (77 deg C). In practical terms this is a difficult temperature to reach. It would typically require heating a soak solution on a hot plate or other external source of heat. Petrolatum can be successfully cleaned at as "low" a temperature as hot 140 deg F (60 deg C), although even this is often hotter than you can get out of a hot water tap.

Specifically for pipettes, soak the pipette in the hot or very hot solution of 1% Alconox or Liquinox for at least 10 minutes. Then drain the pipette 3 times filling and emptying with the hot or very hot solution. Then move the pipette to a normal ambient temperature 1% Alconox or Liquinox soak solution to hold it until you are ready to clean in a siphon pipette washer with Alcotabs. You could skip the ambient temperature soak and go directly to the siphon pipette washer with Alcotabs if you want to. The idea is to not let the pipet dry out or be exposed to plain water where trace wax or petrolatum might plate out on the inside of the pipette. With any used pipette whether it has wax and petrolatum residues or any other residue, it is good practice to place the pipette in a 1% Alconox or Liquinox soak solution immediately after use to avoid any residues drying on to the pipette.

If it is not practical to pre-soak in a very hot or even hot 1% solution of Alconox or Liquinox, you can often get satisfactory cleaning from just prompt pre-soaking in an ambient 1% Alconox or Liquinox in accordance with our recommendations for standard pipette handling. Low melting saponifiable natural and synthetic ester waxes can often be adequately cleaned by this method. Higher melting waxes like bees wax, require at least a hot water (circa 140 deg F, 60 deg C) 1% Alconox or Liquinox 10 minute pre-soak. If this is absolutely not practical, it is possible to remove high melting natural and synthetic ester waxes using a 1% Solujet presoak which can saponify the waxes. Note that Solujet is a potassium hydroxide based corrosive liquid that absolutely requires skin and eye protection for use. It is important to immerse the pipette completely in the Solujet solution to avoid etching the glass at the air/solution interface. In fact it is good practice to always completely immerse pipettes or any glassware to minimize any concerns about etching no matter what soak solution you are using (even deionized water). Normally we do not recommend Solujet for manual cleaning operations unless it is absolutely necessary. Petrolatum in heavy quantities in the absence of emulsifiers that may be present in the cream or lotion you are working with may not be adequately cleaned by the simple ambient temperature pre-soak. If the cream or lotion with the petrolatum contains emulsifiers that are effective on petrolatum already, even an ambient temperature pre-soak in 1% Alconox or Liquinox can be effective. Note that Solujet is not particularly any more effective on petrolatum than Alconox or Liquinox.

Alconox, Liquinox, and Solujet are available from leading laboratory supply companies such as VWR, Cole-Parmer and Thomas Scientific.

Technical bulletins and msds for these cleaners are available at the top center of our home page at www.alconox.com.

We would be happy to provide samples of any of these cleaners on request.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

PFOA or PFOS in Alconox Cleaners

Question:
Is there any PFOA or PFOS in any Alconox cleaner?

Answer:
PFOA and PFOS are perfluoro-octanoic acid and perfluoro-octane sulfonate. None of the Alconox, Inc brand cleaners contains PFOA or PFOS ingredients. We have no data on any trace content of these materials in Alconox cleaners, although on the assumption that these would come from contact with treated fabrics, we certainly do not use any treated fabrics in our manufacturing process and we do not think any such treated fabrics would be found in our raw material supplier processes. Therefore we would not expect any significant trace content of PFOA or PFOS in any Alconox cleaner.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Low Foaming Cleaners

Question:
Which Alconox cleaners are low foaming for use in mechanical washers?

Answer:
Alconox, Inc makes both powder and liquid; acid and alkaline; and phosphate containing and phosphate-free low foaming cleaners. You need a low foaming cleaner for use in mechanical washers that rely on spraying to clean surfaces. If you used a high foaming detergent, the foam will interfere with the mechanical energy of the spray and may leak out of the washer and cause undesirable foam to leak out of the machine. The low foaming cleaners are: Alcojet powdered alkaline phosphate containing cleaner; Tergajet powdered alkaline phosphate-free cleaner; Detojet alkaline phosphate containing liquid; Solujet alkaline phosphate-free liquid; and Citrajet acidic phosphate-free liquid. Typically phosphate-free cleaners are required for phosphate-sensitive cleaning of environmental and water lab equipment.

Click here for a PDF with more information.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Making a 1% Solution by Weight or Volume

Question:
How do you make up a 1% solution of cleaner?

Answer:
To make a 1% solution of powdered detergent such as Alconox or Tergazyme, you can make your solutions by weight or by volume. To make solutions by weight add either 1.28 dry ounces of powder to 1 gallon of water, or add 10 grams of powder to 1 liter of water. Alternatively, you can add a heaping 1 ounce scoop (a large coffee measuring scoop typically works) to 1 gallon of water, or add 2 level teaspoons of powder to 1 liter of water. Mix gently for 1-2 minutes until all of the powder is dissolved. To make a 1% solution of a liquid detergent such as Liquinox or Citranox, you can make these by weight or by volume. To make solutions by weight add either 1.28 ounces of liquid to 1 gallon of water, or add 10 grams of powder to 1 liter of water. Alternatively to make solutions by volume, add 1.28 fluid ounces of liquid to 1 gallon of water or 10 ml of liquid added to 1 liter of water, and mix gently for 10-15 seconds. All of these techniques will make approximately a 1% solution for effective cleaning.

Click here for more information.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Optical Lens Cleaning

Question:
How do you clean optical lenses during manufacturing?

Answer:
To clean optical lenses, typically you use warm (120 deg F or 50 deg C) solutions of 1% Liquinox in an ultrasonic bath followed by a thorough rinse. The lenses would typically be mounted in racks to keep them from touching each other during cleaning and rinsing. This avoids trapping "dirty" cleaning solution between the lenses where they are touching. Rinsing is typically done under running deionized water. The use of deionized water stops rinse water deposits or water spots from forming. For more information on Liquinox see the technical bulletin. Samples of Liquinox are available by clicking the "get sample" button at the top of the page - be sure to fill out a comment stating that you are interested in Liquinox.

Click here for more information.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Custom Detergents for Critical Cleaning

Question:
Does Alconox, Inc. make custom detergent formulations to solve special cleaning problems?

Answer:
Yes, Alconox, Inc. will make custom formulations to solve special cleaning problems. Of course we always try to solve cleaning problems with off the shelf cleaners, but if there are special cleaning needs that cannot be met using regular Alconox brand cleaners, then where the size of business warrants manufacturing a new formulation, we will make custom detergents. Typically to make a custom powdered cleaner, a 1,000 lb batch is required. For custom made liquid detergents, as small as 4X55 gal drums or 1,000 gallons packed in 1 gallon bottles can be made. For example, sometimes people may want a higher or lower pH enzymatic cleaner than the pH 9.5 Tergazyme, in which case we offer formulations with ingredients modified to adjust the pH to as low as 7.5 or as high as 10.5. Where a liquid version of a phosphate containing cleaner like Alconox was required, we made a custom formulation. Email cleaning AT alconox.com for more information.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Measuring Concentration of Solujet

Question:
How can I use conductivity to measure the concentration of a Solujet solution in order to control the concentration in a cleaning bath?

Answer:
In cleaning machines that have sumps or baths that are used repeatedly for cleaning where there will be dragout of solution on the parts being cleaned, evaporation of water, make-up water being added, and possibly dilution with rinse water, the cleaner concentration will constantly be changing as the solution is altered by any of these mechanisms. One way to control this is to monitor the conductivity of the solution which will allow you to determine the concentration of Solujet present which in turn will allow you to determine how much Solujet to add to bring the solution back up to full cleaning strength. For example the conductivity of Solujet at 22 deg C for weight/weight percent Solujet is as follows: 0.125% = 0.64 mS; 0.25% = 1.26 mS; 0.5% = 2.45 mS; 1% = 4.85 mS; 2% = 9.2 mS; and 4% = 17.9 mS. You can contact Alconox at cleaning@ alconox.com to get a copy of an excel spreadsheet with this data in it along with a graph for interpreting results.