Sewer cleaners are essential products in the world of industrial cleaning and maintenance. These powerful formulations are designed to tackle the toughest blockages in washbasins, toilets, and bathtubs, ensuring smooth operation of plumbing systems in both residential and commercial settings. Understanding the science behind effective sewer cleaners is crucial for manufacturers and users alike.
The primary culprits behind drain blockages are fats, proteins, cellulose, and calcium soaps. Among these, calcium soaps pose a particular challenge. These substances form when soap used for washing reacts with heavy metal ions like calcium and magnesium, or when certain fatty substances break down in alkaline conditions. When combined with body dirt and hair, these compounds adhere to pipe walls, leading to stubborn blockages that require specialized sewer cleaners to resolve.
In this article, we’ll explore the various types of sewer cleaners, their key ingredients, and provide formulas for creating highly effective drain maintenance products. Whether you’re a detergent manufacturer looking to expand your product line or a facilities manager seeking to understand your options, this comprehensive guide to sewer cleaners will equip you with valuable insights into these indispensable cleaning agents.
Introduction
The main substances that block washbasins, toilets, and bathtubs are fats, proteins, cellulose, and calcium soaps. Among them, calcium soaps are reaction products of soap used for washing and heavy metal ions such as calcium and magnesium ions, as well as products of alkaline decomposition of some fatty dirt. They mix with body dirt, hair dirt, etc., adhere to the pipe wall, and cause sewer blockage.
Types of Sewer Cleaners
(1) Strong Acid, Strong Alkali, Oxidant Type
This type of cleaning agent is effective in eliminating blockage but is not safe.
Pipe dredging agents composed of sodium hydroxide and aluminum powder saponify the oil and other organic pollutants adhering to the blockage and pipe wall according to their strong alkalinity, and then corrode and destroy them until they dissolve the hair, fibers, cloth strips, leaves, etc. in the blocked sewer pipe, and can also kill the microorganisms in the pipe and remove odor. The strong reaction between aluminum powder and hydrogen hydroxide generates hydrogen and heats up, generating a loose mechanical pushing force. The finer the particle size of aluminum powder, the faster the heating. Among them, 30-42 days account for about 80%, which is better. Some adjuvants and surfactants have the functions of suspending, dispersing, gluing, and emulsifying soil and oil. The biochemical reaction of enzymes accelerates the dredging effect.
(2) Mild Sewer Cleaner
The most commonly used anti-blocking component is a sulfur-containing compound (such as sodium thioglycolate and thiocarboxylate) used as a depilatory in cosmetics. They can decompose the most difficult hair to treat in the blockage.
Surfactants help to remove oil stains and increase the suspension and dispersion of dirt. In view of the high difficulty and particularity of sewer cleaning, fluorine-containing surfactants are very effective when added in an amount of 0.3%~0.5%.
Because the wall of the sewer pipe is often vertical, the thickener can extend the residence time of the cleaning agent on the pipe wall. Commonly used thickeners include cheap waste sodium methyl cellulose, etc., but it is difficult to add thickeners in oxidation-reduction type cleaning agents.
Among inorganic salts, sodium chloride is commonly used. Inorganic salts can settle on the blocked objects at the bottom of the cleaning agent and play a role in eliminating blockage. Heavy metal ions and depilatory agents, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose form insoluble salts, which should be strictly avoided.
Chromate and nitrite are effective steel pipe corrosion inhibitors, and organic solvents help to dissolve, disperse, and emulsify grease and soap.
Formula 1: Heat-generating Sewer Pipe Cleaning Agent
| Raw Material | Mass Fraction/% |
|---|---|
| Caustic soda | 35-50 |
| Phosphate | 20-25 |
| Nitric acid | 15-20 |
| Aluminum shavings | 10-20 |
| Sodium dichloroisocyanurate | 2-7 |
Formula 2: Oxidizing Liquid Sewer Cleaner
| Raw Material | Mass Fraction/% |
|---|---|
| Sodium hypochlorite | 5.0 |
| Sodium hydroxide | 2.0 |
| Sodium silicate | 1.5 |
| Alkyl alcohol sulfate | 0.30 |
| Sodium dodecyl sulfate | 1.0 |
| Sodium lauryl sarcosinate | 0.30 |
| Water | Balance |
The thickener used is a combination of three types of anionic surfactants, which makes the detergent have a certain viscosity and can vaporize hypochlorous acid. The active half-life of hypochlorite is more than half a year. Viscosity is 0.1-0.225Pa…
Formula 3: Pipe Dredging Agent without Alkali Metal Hydroxide
| Raw Material | Mass Fraction/% |
|---|---|
| Thioglycolic acid | 1.5 |
| CMC | 3.0 |
| Thioglycolic acid | 3.0 |
| N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone | 3.0 |
| Sodium chloride | 15.0 |
| Water | Balance |
In addition to being used as a solvent, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone can also produce an effective synergistic deblocking effect with alkalis and other substances.
Formula 4: Sewer Dredging Agent without Alkali Metal Hydroxide
| Raw Material | Mass Fraction/% |
|---|---|
| Ethanol | 2-4 |
| Aniline | 0.5-1 |
| Paper fiber stripper | 1-3 |
| Surfactant | 0.5-1 |
| Urotropine | 0.1-1 |
| Hydrochloric acid | 0.5-1 |
| Phosphoric acid | 3-8 |
| Water | 1-3 |