AQUEOUS-BASED CLEANING WITH HYDROGEN-PEROXIDE

The pharmaceutical, military, and fine chemical industries have expres sed much interest in eliminating organic solvents from their cleaning operations. Waste organic-cleaning solvents such as acetone, toluene, and methanol have been characterized as hazardous or toxic wastes. As a substitute, 3% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was found to effectively cle an tenacious residues off glass surfaces. This testing evaluated both moderately elevated pH conditions and iron-based catalysts. Results re vealed that 100% of an asphalt residue could be removed from glass sur faces within 105 min when it was submerged in a 3% H2O2 solution at pH 9.5 and ambient temperature. Furthermore, the asphalt residue could b e completely removed within 45-60 min if the H2O2 solution also includ ed 10(-3) M FeCl3.