Formulated Cleaners…The Best Recipe For Safe, Powerful Cleaning!

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What makes one cleaning product different from another? Aren’t they all the same? You may be surprised to learn that there are many different types of cleaners, each designed for varying purposes. Choosing the right cleaner for the job isn’t a “one size fits all” proposition, but rather a well thought out process in which many factors must be considered.

What is a Formulated Cleaner?

One thing that differentiates cleaning products is how they are made. Commodity cleaners are products that are made from a single chemical, targeting a specific type of soil. Formulated cleaners are blends of various chemical ingredients designed to work together to remove various types of soils. By blending chemicals together to produce formulated cleaners, the end result is a product that can attack dirt on surfaces with a variety of cleaning mechanisms including emulsifying, lifting, dispersing, sequestering, suspending and decomposing soils of various types.

Companies that produce formulated cleaners, specialty chemical manufacturers, often provide a high degree of technical assistance to their customers.  These manufacturers can offer their customers quality assurance, as well as performance and compatibility testing capabilities.

“Specialty chemicals are chemical products that are sold on the basis of their performance or function, rather than their composition….Products and services in the specialty chemicals industry require intensive knowledge and ongoing innovation. Commodity chemicals, on the other hand, are sold strictly on the basis of their chemical composition. They are single-chemical entities. The commodity chemical product of one supplier is generally readily interchangeable with that of any other.” IHS Markit (2016) https://www.ihs.com/products/specialty-chemicals-industry-scup.html.

Advantages of Formulated Cleaners

Some of the advantages of using a formulated cleaner include:

• Clean multiple soils because the product is composed of a formulated blend of chemicals
• Provide multiple cleaning mechanisms
• A synergistic blend of ingredients for tested, proven and consistent cleaning results
• Tested for quality and compatibility
• Manufacturers usually offer technical support
• More economical over time

Formulated Cleaner or Commodity Cleaner?

Each formulated cleaner is a unique blend of components, made to exact specifications. The end result is a recipe designed to bring out the best qualities of each ingredient by combining them in precise amounts. Think about baking chocolate chip cookies…while the chocolate pieces might taste good on their own, the finished cookie is so much better!

What are your cleaning needs? For most critical and industrial cleaning applications, formulated cleaners are the right choice. They provide advantageous cleaning capabilities over commodity products comprised of a single chemical. “Formulated specialties are unique blends … packaged in a single formulation to achieve optimal performance characteristics. Requiring a high degree of field and technical service, examples include water treatment chemicals and industrial and institutional cleaning compounds.” William Storck (2004). “Specialty Chemicals” (PDF). Chemical & Engineering News supplement 82. pp. 35–39.  http://pubs.acs.org/supplements/chemchronicles2/pdf/035.pdf

Interested in learning more about formulated cleaners? Need assistance in choosing the right product for your critical cleaning application? Visit IPC’s website or contact one of our technical specialists.

P.S.  We are suddenly craving chocolate chip cookies!  What’s your favorite recipe?  Here’s ours.

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