Industrial cleaning, in its true sense, is only a few decades old, but its emergence has brought enormous economic and social benefits to industrial production. With the rapid development of cleaning technology, industrial cleaning has now been applied to almost all industrial sectors. This article introduces eight types of industrial cleaning agents and their characteristics:

1. Water and Non-Aqueous Solvents

The solvent for stains refers to the chemical substance that can remove the stains by dissolving or dispersing them, without transforming them into a stable, chemically defined new substance. It includes water and non-aqueous solvents.

Water is naturally occurring and a key solvent. In industrial cleaning, water is the solvent for most organic chemical cleaners and also for many stains. In cleaning, wherever water can remove stains, there is no need for non-aqueous solvents and various preservatives.

Non-aqueous organic solvents

Non-aqueous organic solvents include hydrocarbons and halogenated hydrocarbons, alcohols, ethers, ketones, esters, phenols, and other compounds. They are suitable for dissolving organic chemical stains, such as oil stains and some organic scale.

2. Surfactants

Their molecular structure contains both hydrophilic optically active ester groups and lipophilic non-optically active ester groups. Even in very small amounts, they can significantly reduce the interfacial tension and surface tension of organic solvents (usually water), and possess wetting, solubilizing, emulsifying, dispersing, and cleaning functions.

Surfactants can be classified in various ways. They are widely classified according to their weak electrolyte state in organic solvents and the type of ionization of their hydrophilic ester groups. Common types include cationic surfactants, ionic surfactants, amphoteric surfactants, and non-ionizing surfactants. The first three are ionic surfactants.

Surfactants have widespread applications in cleaning in daily life and industrial production.

3. Acid-Base Cleaners

These cleaners work by reacting with stains in a strong acid-base reaction (sometimes accompanied by oxidation-reduction reactions), transforming the stains into substances that can be dissolved or dispersed in the cleaning solution. Common examples include citric acid, strong oxidants, alkalis, and salts that become acidic or alkaline after hydrolysis.

Most acid-base cleaners consist of solutions of acids and alkalis with necessary modifiers. Another type of acid or alkali, which melts and acts on stains at high temperatures, transforms stains that were previously insoluble or difficult to dissolve in the cleaning agent into easily soluble substances. These acids and alkalis are generally called solvents. These cleaners are highly effective against stains that cannot be removed with solvents or aqueous solutions.

4. Oxidizing-Oxidizing Agents

These are preparations that primarily rely on chemical reactions with stains to remove them; they are cleaning reducing agents or oxidizing agents, including solvents.

Reducing agents are used to remove oxidizing stains, such as many organic chemical stains. Oxidizing agents are used to remove reducing stains, such as rust.

5. Metal Ionizing Chelating Agents: These agents react with the ionized metal in the stain, transforming it into a chelate that dissolves in the cleaning agent. They are commonly used in the removal of rust and carbonate deposits.

6. Catalyst Carriers: These are chemical substances that remove stains through physical or chemical adsorption. Catalyst carriers with strong stain-removing properties should be selected.

7. Enzymes: Enzymes are proteins produced by animals, plants, and microorganisms, possessing catalytic reaction capabilities. In stain removal, they react with chemical stains, promoting their dissolution and removal. For example, adding trypsin, lipase, pepsin, and cellulase to the cleaning solution can accelerate the removal of stains.

8. Sterilizing, Algae-Killing, and Sludge-Removing Agents These are organic chemical agents that can eliminate algae and bacteria on the surface of the cleaned sludge, removing microbial contaminants. They can be inorganic or organic, with inorganic types generally being oxidizing agents.