Browse Client Types

Browse past lab clients by general industry sectors

Trial Number 3

Trial Purpose:

To evaluate four binary azeotropes for removing a polybutene coating from aluminum coupons using immersion cleaning.

Date Run:

02/08/2007

Experiment Procedure:

The four supplied solvents were mixed with DI water in 600 ml beakers to obtain binary azeotropes. Methyl Acetate (MeOAc) was mixed with water (95% water) and heated to 56.1 C on a hot plate. T-Butyl Acetate (t-BAc) was mixed with water (16.5% water) and heated to boiling at 87.4 C. Propylene Glycol Methyl Ether (PGME) was mixed with water (51% water) and heated to 97.5 C. The final blend consisted of Heptane mixed with water (12.9% water) and heated to 79.2 C.

Twelve preweighed aluminum coupons were coated with Soltex Polybutene 32 (9003-29-6) with a handheld swab. Coupons were weighed again to determine the amount of oil applied. Three coupons were cleaned in each azeotrope for five minutes at the boiling point, rinsed for 15 seconds in 120 F tap water and dried for 30 seconds using compressed air at room temperature. Coupons were weighed a third time to determine the amount of oil remaining. Efficiencies were calculated and recorded.

Trial Results:

Again, two of the four azeotropes removed over 98% of the canola oil. The table lists the amount of soil added, the amount remaining, and the efficiency of each coupon cleaned.

Azeotrope Initial wt Final wt % Removed
MeOAc 0.9602 1.0009 -4.24
  0.7028 0.6663 5.19
  0.8136 0.8085 0.63
t-BAc 0.7825 0.0004 99.95
  0.4731 0.0052 98.90
  0.6692 0.0043 99.36
PGME 0.7093 0.4278 39.69
  0.9681 0.4345 55.12
  0.7613 0.6586 13.49
Heptane 0.7196 0.0015 99.79
  0.6064 0.0030 99.51
  0.9869 0.0001 99.99

Success Rating:

A follow up test, usually based on company input.

Conclusion:

The heptane-water azeotrope removed 99.8% of the canola oil, the t-Bac-water removed 99.4%, PGME-water removed 36.1% and the MeOAc removed 0.53%.

Save Report as a PDF