The authoritative public forum
  for Metal Finishing since 1989
  

  -----

Removing wax from Trichloroethylene

How can we remove wax from vapor degreasing solvent trichloroethylene? We distill it now. However this causes down time with the degreaser. Is there a filter or other method so we can keep running all the time and keep the solution cleaner to work better so we run the machine more effectively?

Hiram Lewis
mfg - Moline, Illinois, USA
2003

We used to shut the heat off on Fri night and let it cool down. The wax floated to the top and "froze" . We removed this with a home made scoop on Monday AM. If you do not want to shut down, you could pump out 55 gal into an open top drum (with a cover) and replace that with 55 gal of new material. Remove the wax from the top of the drum. Pump out another 55 gal into another open top drum and pump back the liquid from the first open top drum, etc. You could distill from the open top drum when the wax is removed, but I can not see that it would do much good.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
2003

---

The only practical way to keep down time to a minimum is to have two lots of trichloroethylene. As one lot is being distilled and purified, the other is being used.

Trevor Crichton
R&D practical scientist
Chesham, Bucks, UK
2003