Most people now realize that Wash Water Reclamation Systems require the use of washing chemicals that do not defeat the water clenaning process. Most chemical companies now offer "Quick Release"products to fulfill the need for a good  soap that is effective at removing grease and road film while being unstable enough to breakdown in the reclaim process.

The purpose of the communique is to offer a greater understanding of the com;ocations arising from the use of an incorrect washing detergent and to help in recycling system. It is worth mentioning that all systems discharging to sanitary sewers through oil/water separators, as well as recycling systems, would benefit form geeding the advice offered herein.
 

The oil and grease deposited on the surface of a dirty vehicle must be sufficiently emulsified to the point that they will flow from the vehicle before the emulsion breaks down. If an emulsion is too unstable, re-depositon fo the oil and grease is possible. Emusification occurs when two normally immiscible liquids are successfully mixed. One fo the liquids (oil, in this case) forms tiny droplets that suspend within the other liquid (water, in this case) by means of agitation and a detergent. The resultiong effluent is wash water containing oil that is both mechanically and chemically emulsified. The mechanically-emulsified oil will separate form the water when the agitation stops and sufficient quiet time elapses allowing for the oil to surface. The water and chemically emulsitied oil, on the other hand, will not separate on their owm unless the detergent used is designed to allow it to happen.
 

Our days are numbered that we may continue to allow this permanently emulsified wastestream to go unchecked out the door of the industrial sector. For some, those days are already in the past. THe local multi-million-dollar sewer plant cannot handle the oil and greases being sent to them, so it is reaonable to assume that a $30,000 on-site  reclaim systen cannot handle it either. It's simple;before the waste wash waster can be reclaimed by anyone or anything, the emulsion of oil and water must be breken.
 

Traditionally, users of detergents have discharged the effluent down the drain with no thought as to what happened next. Once the user installs an oil/water separator or full recycling system, the consequences of emulsification are encountered. Chemical emulsification defeats the oil separation capabilites of water cleaning systems. The emulsifications pass through particle filters and carbon adsorption filters, returning to the pressure washer operator unimproved. In the process, the filters and carbon are fouled rendering them ineffedctive. Remember, there is much to be gained by improving sewer discharges to avoid high surcharges caused by excessive oil and grease levels. If wash water is discharged to the ground, the generator is liable.
 

The soultion to this challenge was once expensive and not redily available. However, for the past couple of years both price and availabitity have improved to the point that these "Quick Release" cleaning agents are almost as common as traditional soaps. THe use of this new breed of soap is wise regardless of your effluent disposition method. Quick release can better be said as "unstable emulsifier", not as "nonemulsifier". Beware the vendor peddling a "non-emulsifying" soap. Yes, it will work in your wash water reclaim system: no, it will not remove grease and oil.
 

Surfactants (surface-active agnets) make water wetter. When water is wetter it can penetrate the surface of oils and greases more easily and quickly - an important function, if your goal is to clean a greasy piece of equipment. Therefore, surfactants are important ingredients in the cleaning chemicals you buy - the tricky part being to select the type of surfactant that will provide your system with unstable emulsification.
 

To make thing a little more complicated, there are four types of surfactants available; cationic, anionic, nonionic, and ampholytic. The manufacturer of your reclaim system can guide you to the best type of surfactant for your system.
 

Present day technology offers us hair shampoo with a balanced pH(pH 7). This is great stuff for your hair, but totally unacceptable for washing industrial equipment. There are extremely effective injustrial grade soaps with high pH's(pH12) that work very well on oil and grease while quickly releasing those oils and greases within a wash water reclaim system. You can have both a high pH and an unstable emulsifier.
 

The wash water reclaim user can be a wiser chemical buyer with the following information that will be of assistance in guiding your chemical vendor to the corret product for your system;

In order to achieve the benefits of "quick release", clever formulators employ the use of monoethanolamine as the coupling agent. Monoethanolamine easily evaporates during the washing process. As the monoethanolamine heads out of grease. Now, the reclaim system can do its job as separation of the oily contaminants occurs. This type of unstable emulsifier may allow your reclaim system to work, but if the breakdown occurs too quickly, the oil and grease could re-deposit on the equipment being washed.

  2. An alterantive washing chemical designed for equipment washing  has a high pH with effective defreasing abilities. This washing chemical breaks down when introduced to a stream with an acidic pH. By maintaining a pH lower than 7 in a wash water reclamation system, the oil and grease release once the wastewater returns to the wash rack pit - assuming that there is an ORP/pH Controller on achieves both a quality wash job and successful weparation of oil and water Chemicals of this type have existed since the early 1900's.

  3. Yet another family of washing chemicals, specifically designed to effedtively cleam and then separate, breaks down in the presence of polypropylene. Landa's oil/water separators and reclaim systems all feature polypropylene oilcoalescing plates in the first stage of the reclamation process. The powerful cleaning ability of a high pH and a system for emulsion breaking get the total job done.

 4. a list of chemicals sure to defeat your wastewater reclamation system:

* Dishwashinhg soaps like Joy
* Slovents like Gunk and WD-40
* Stoddard Solvent
* Floor washing soaps
* Anti-freeze ( contains silicone and ethylene glycol-- both bad news )
* Laundry detergents, like Tide
* Turpentine

Keep the number fo chemicals used to a bare minimum. The more complicated the wastestream, the tougher it is to troubleshoot an emulsification problem.

The QR Series of cleaning detergents offered by Landa are formulated with a blend of anionic and amphoteric surfactants. This enables them to release oil and frease in the presence of polypropylene, as described earlier.

One last word - foaming has little merit in the wash process, but devastiong consequences in a wash water reclamation wywtem. Ask your vendor for low foaming projucts.
 

  
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