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Dropping solids from industrial paint stripper, perhaps a surfactant?

2005

I work in an e-coat facility and we are experiencing alot of trouble with our chemical. The epoxy particles from our e-coat breaks down very, very small, less than 5 micron. Our current filtration system (bag/canister) is not making a dent in these ultrafine particulates. This is causing our stripping process to take much longer than it should. I have heard that there are some chemicals, surfactants, that can be added to some paint strippers to make these ultrafine particles settle. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Adam Adkisson
Quality Dept.

Adam Adkisson
custom coating - Seminole, Oklahoma

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Believe it or not I've seen your e-coat line... back when it was brand new and shiny!

You can decant your stripper bath, which basically is to allow it to cool and settle, then remove the liquid, clean out the sludge, and put the liquid back. Then you have to do some adjustment to get it all back to the right strength...

You could also use a continuous method, like a clarifier with lots of holding time, to let the solids settle. You could add something at the inlet if needed to aid settling, as long as it doesn't upset your stripping bath.

My company makes equipment for this, if you want to explore it be sure to describe the process, chemicals, and sludge volume... This is a little out of the ordinary application, so don't just take a quicky quote and assume it will work.

Jeff Watson
- Pearland, Texas
2005