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Food Processing, beverage and dairy industry have recently shown a major interest in Clean-in-Place processes due to increased demands from customers in CIP verification and improvements in hygiene standards, product quality shelf life and microbiological consideration. While microbial contamination requires use of sanitizers and disinfectants, pre-processing like pasteurization etc, removal of mineral scaling, food layering and organic depositions can be easily met with cleaning solutions specifically designed for the purpose.
CIP involves the jetting of surfaces or circulations with an appropriate cleaning solution under increased turbulence and flow velocity. Cleaning solutions so chosen should be active at contaminant removal from any and all types of surfaces without being corrosive to the materials themselves, non toxic and non-residual formulations that can be easily washed off and do not create issues with ultimate quality of food products produced. CIP easily shortens time for cleaning and often cleaning solutions are recoverable. When incorporated in automatic systems, they allow safe and reproducible results that are economic and product friendly.
The simplest form of non-toxic cleaners are basically blends of mineral acids and inhibitors. Acid circulation and spraying is effective in removal of encrusted proteins and mineral deposits on heat treatment surfaces. Hydrochloric acid seems to be the easy and convenient choice for CIP processes owing to its quick action and high solubility. It can be used directly to clean or as a neutralizing solution after alkaline wash. It enhances draining and drying of pipelines, better bacteriostatic action and removal of mineral deposits like hard water scale, milk stone, beer stone etc. Typical concentrations in solutions range from 30%-70% that require appropriate dilution before application based on industry, equipment, nature of contamination, topography of surfaces to be cleaned and application methods.
NALCLEAN 8940 is a hydrochloric acid based acid cleaner. Manufactured by Nalco Company, it is a blend of Hydrochloric Acid (30%-60%) as a low foaming cleaning liquid that is slightly brown in color. It is a heavy duty formulation for complete removal of difficult mineral and protein base soils, water scales, corrosive depositions and hard deposits from pipelines, pasteurizers, evaporators, vats, tanks, coolers and other stainless steel equipment normally found in food processing plants. NALCLEAN 8940 has slight pungent odor with a low 1.5 pH, high solubility in water and good thermal stability. It is compatible with an array of metal and non-metal surfaces when used in recommended concentrations, cost effective as its effective even at lower concentrations compared to other cleaners, a good neutralizer for surfaces pre-treated with alkaline cleaners and easily adapts to all CIP application and feeding systems.
ChemEqual is a vast online chemical marketplace and B2B search engine where various grades of application specific acid cleaners can be searched.
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