Lab Supplies

Q. Surface contamination interferes with formation of protective oxide coating on stainless steel thereby leaving it open to corrosion.

The stainless steel needs passivation. Can Alconox, Inc. help?

A. Stainless steels are autopassivating in the sense that the protective oxide passive film is formed spontaneously on exposure to air or moisture.

Surface contamination, may interfere with the formation of the passive film. The cleaning of these contaminants from the stainless steel surface with citric acid detergent will facilitate passivation by allowing the oxygen access to the surface.

Passivate by immersing the stainless steel in either a 30% solution (300mL/L) of Citranox® Liquid Acid Cleaner and Detergent or Citrajet® Low-Foam Liquid Acid Cleaner/Rinse at any of the following combination of

Q: How do you determine optimum detergency for Liquinox® detergent?

A: As a general statement, optimum detergency for Liquinox® Critical Cleaning Liquid Detergent is reached at a 1-2% concentration with "optimum" defined as amount of soil removed per unit of detergent used. Maximum detergency is typically reached at a 2-3% concentration with "maximum" defined as the total amount of soil removed per area of substrate without regard to amount of detergent used.

The maximum cleaning capacity is often achieved at 4 or even 6%. Cleaning capacity is defined as the amount of total parts cleaned or combined amount of residue removed before you have to change out baths.

If you are trying to clean lots of parts...

Q. Can I use pH paper to confirm cleaning and rinsing of labware to comply with lab accreditation requirements?

Q. We are looking to clean denatured proteins from our medical device along with baked-on desiccated blood that is not removed completely. Manual scraping removes the residual but is not acceptable. Need a cleaner that will dissolve all bio-matter. Cleaning process is to prepare device for autoclave sterilization.

A Solution for Waste Disposal of Volatile Organic Compounds to Increase Standards of Health

A major concern in the field of chemical science is the proper care and disposal of hazardous wastes. With high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) machines, solvent wastes must be contained for disposal. However, these liquids are often volatile organic compounds (VOCs), meaning they will easily vaporize in the lab and spread through the air. In order to contain these vapors, which are potential health hazards for people working in the lab, improved waste containment must be implemented. Common lab practices have not been sufficient in containing these vapors.