Acid removal in cleaning processes
First Claim
1. A cleaning process, comprising:
- providing an article formed of a material selected from the group consisting of metal, ceramic, glass or plastic, wherein the article has contaminants on its surface;
in a cleaning chamber contacting the article with a cleaning composition having at least 85 percent by weight of an organic solvent based on a total weight of the cleaning composition;
removing the contaminants from the article, where the cleaning composition acquires acidic components from the contaminants removed from the article or from side reactions occurring in the cleaning process;
collecting the cleaning composition with the contaminants and the acidic components;
separating the contaminants from the cleaning composition; and
passing the cleaning composition with the acidic components over an ion exchange resin to remove the acidic components from the cleaning composition.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of the present disclosure include cleaning processes, cleaning machines, and methods of preventing acidification of a cleaning composition in a cleaning process. The cleaning process includes contacting an article having contaminants with a cleaning composition to remove the contaminants from the article, where the cleaning composition comes to have acidic components as a result of contacting the article with the cleaning composition, and where at least 85 percent by weight, based on a total weight of the cleaning composition, of the cleaning composition is an organic solvent, collecting the cleaning composition with the contaminants and the acidic components, separating the contaminants from the cleaning composition (114), and passing the cleaning composition with the acidic components over an ion exchange resin (125) to remove the acidic components from the cleaning composition.
22 Citations
11 Claims
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1. A cleaning process, comprising:
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providing an article formed of a material selected from the group consisting of metal, ceramic, glass or plastic, wherein the article has contaminants on its surface; in a cleaning chamber contacting the article with a cleaning composition having at least 85 percent by weight of an organic solvent based on a total weight of the cleaning composition; removing the contaminants from the article, where the cleaning composition acquires acidic components from the contaminants removed from the article or from side reactions occurring in the cleaning process; collecting the cleaning composition with the contaminants and the acidic components; separating the contaminants from the cleaning composition; and passing the cleaning composition with the acidic components over an ion exchange resin to remove the acidic components from the cleaning composition. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method of removing acidic components from of a cleaning composition in a cleaning process, comprising:
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providing an article formed of a material selected from the group consisting of metal, ceramic, glass or plastic, the article having contaminants on a surface of the article, where the contaminants are to be removed; in a cleaning chamber contacting the surface of the article with the cleaning composition having at least 85 percent by weight of an organic solvent based on a total weight of the cleaning composition to remove the contaminants from the surface of the article, where the cleaning composition acquires acidic components from the contaminants removed from the article or from side reactions occurring in the cleaning process; collecting the cleaning composition with the contaminants and the acidic components; separating the contaminants from the cleaning composition; and passing the cleaning composition with the acidic components over an ion exchange resin to remove the acidic components from the cleaning composition. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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Specification