earthsaver77
03-19-2013, 01:35 PM
I hope that this information comes in useful.
Plastic containers and tubing are great, but nobody wants the plastic smell or taste in their products. It’s easy to get rid of them from newly manufactured products.
Soft plastics, unlike rigid plastics (like polycarbonate, Lexan, Nalgene, etc) all outgas compounds like aromatic hydrocarbons, aldehydes, and ketones. All soft plastics contain BPA, which is a chemical that mimics estrogen and is an endocrine disrupter. Plastics labeled as “BPA Free” are all rigid plastics, and will shatter upon hard impact. What we use for tubing and food-safe containers still contains BPA. Keep that in mind. BPA is a hot topic right now, but it’s not necessarily the only hazardous chemical in plastics.
Your worst enemy is heat. Plastic products are quite stable in low temperatures, but the warmer it gets, the more chemicals it will release. Keep all plastic containers cool and in the shade year round, and get tubing that is light colored and UV protected so that they stay cooler.
Outgassed chemicals from new soft plastics can be quite strong. Think of that new car smell. That smell comes from plastics. If you have ever tried to clean the inside of your car or truck’s windshield, the film that seems almost impossible to remove from the glass is actually the outgassed vapors from your plastic dashboard. Now, imagine that same film on the inside of your plastic containers and tubing. It won’t go away on its own, and it will continue to appear over the lifetime of the plastic product.
At a bare minimum, rinsing soft plastics with plain water is ok, but the oxidation potential of plain water is insufficient and can take weeks to have any effect on getting rid of chemical surface film without a surfactant or stripping agent such as soap or alcohol.
Soap has its purpose, but it can leave a residue that doesn’t come off some soft plastics easily without high pressure or abrasive action. Soap residue can accumulate on the interior walls of tubing, and flushing a dozen cotton balls through it under pressure is effective, but just very time consuming. Large containers can be pressure washed without too much trouble, but here are some other methods if you want to avoid using soap to get rid of the chemicals that leave a plastic taste or smell.
Top on my list is ethyl alcohol, but it’s expensive, so methyl alcohol in the form of rubbing alcohol works great. With the alcohol method, fill any plastic tubing, fittings, or containers with diluted rubbing alcohol (isopropanol). The alcohol will dissolve chemicals that don't dissolve well in water. The longer your alcohol solution is in contact with the plastic surface, the better it will remove the aromatics. An hour is the bare minimum, and there’s no real benefit beyond a week.
Next best is an overnight to 3 day flush of hydrogen peroxide followed by a few hours of soaking with a baking soda solution.
For tubing, it’s best to circulate the fluids using a pump. For large containers, just fill them and let them sit for a day or two.
Either method will require a carbon rinse, which absorbs any residual ketones and neutralizes the other products used to “strip” the plastic of residual chemicals from the manufacturing process.
The final treatment is the most important step. You can always use just plain water, but including carbon works wonders.
I prefer rinsing with a solution containing solid carbon. I flush tubing or fill containers with water containing pre-washed hardwood charcoal or the rock-like activated carbon chips found in aquarium supply stores. A little goes a long way. One pound of charcoal is sufficient for 100 gallons of water.
Pre-washed charcoal is the key. You don’t want charcoal powder getting into the cleaning water, because it’s chemical nature will be to stick to plastic, and it’s very hard to remove. Rinse charcoal with agitation and keep changing the water until your water remains clear before putting it into a container to soak or into the water flushed through tubing. Charcoal dust is non-toxic and could even residually reduce the load of chemicals released from plastic into your liquids over time, but it really looks terrible.
When in use, minimize heat, and minimize the amount of time fluids remain in contact with your plastic tubing and containers.
When not in use, just keep plastic equipment cool and sheltered, and when it’s time to put it all back into production, give yourself plenty of time to give these items a good soaking and rinse with plenty of fresh water.
Plastic containers and tubing are great, but nobody wants the plastic smell or taste in their products. It’s easy to get rid of them from newly manufactured products.
Soft plastics, unlike rigid plastics (like polycarbonate, Lexan, Nalgene, etc) all outgas compounds like aromatic hydrocarbons, aldehydes, and ketones. All soft plastics contain BPA, which is a chemical that mimics estrogen and is an endocrine disrupter. Plastics labeled as “BPA Free” are all rigid plastics, and will shatter upon hard impact. What we use for tubing and food-safe containers still contains BPA. Keep that in mind. BPA is a hot topic right now, but it’s not necessarily the only hazardous chemical in plastics.
Your worst enemy is heat. Plastic products are quite stable in low temperatures, but the warmer it gets, the more chemicals it will release. Keep all plastic containers cool and in the shade year round, and get tubing that is light colored and UV protected so that they stay cooler.
Outgassed chemicals from new soft plastics can be quite strong. Think of that new car smell. That smell comes from plastics. If you have ever tried to clean the inside of your car or truck’s windshield, the film that seems almost impossible to remove from the glass is actually the outgassed vapors from your plastic dashboard. Now, imagine that same film on the inside of your plastic containers and tubing. It won’t go away on its own, and it will continue to appear over the lifetime of the plastic product.
At a bare minimum, rinsing soft plastics with plain water is ok, but the oxidation potential of plain water is insufficient and can take weeks to have any effect on getting rid of chemical surface film without a surfactant or stripping agent such as soap or alcohol.
Soap has its purpose, but it can leave a residue that doesn’t come off some soft plastics easily without high pressure or abrasive action. Soap residue can accumulate on the interior walls of tubing, and flushing a dozen cotton balls through it under pressure is effective, but just very time consuming. Large containers can be pressure washed without too much trouble, but here are some other methods if you want to avoid using soap to get rid of the chemicals that leave a plastic taste or smell.
Top on my list is ethyl alcohol, but it’s expensive, so methyl alcohol in the form of rubbing alcohol works great. With the alcohol method, fill any plastic tubing, fittings, or containers with diluted rubbing alcohol (isopropanol). The alcohol will dissolve chemicals that don't dissolve well in water. The longer your alcohol solution is in contact with the plastic surface, the better it will remove the aromatics. An hour is the bare minimum, and there’s no real benefit beyond a week.
Next best is an overnight to 3 day flush of hydrogen peroxide followed by a few hours of soaking with a baking soda solution.
For tubing, it’s best to circulate the fluids using a pump. For large containers, just fill them and let them sit for a day or two.
Either method will require a carbon rinse, which absorbs any residual ketones and neutralizes the other products used to “strip” the plastic of residual chemicals from the manufacturing process.
The final treatment is the most important step. You can always use just plain water, but including carbon works wonders.
I prefer rinsing with a solution containing solid carbon. I flush tubing or fill containers with water containing pre-washed hardwood charcoal or the rock-like activated carbon chips found in aquarium supply stores. A little goes a long way. One pound of charcoal is sufficient for 100 gallons of water.
Pre-washed charcoal is the key. You don’t want charcoal powder getting into the cleaning water, because it’s chemical nature will be to stick to plastic, and it’s very hard to remove. Rinse charcoal with agitation and keep changing the water until your water remains clear before putting it into a container to soak or into the water flushed through tubing. Charcoal dust is non-toxic and could even residually reduce the load of chemicals released from plastic into your liquids over time, but it really looks terrible.
When in use, minimize heat, and minimize the amount of time fluids remain in contact with your plastic tubing and containers.
When not in use, just keep plastic equipment cool and sheltered, and when it’s time to put it all back into production, give yourself plenty of time to give these items a good soaking and rinse with plenty of fresh water.