ES448850A1 - Procedure for cleaning surfaces contaminated with oils or greases. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding) - Google Patents

Abstract

Procedure for cleaning surfaces contaminated with oils or fats, characterized in that an aqueous solution of an emulsifying agent or an aqueous emulsion of a hydrocarbon solvent containing said emulsifying agent is applied to the contaminated surface, in order to separate the oils or fats, this being last decomposable by alteration of the pH and having the formula: **(See formula)** wherein R1, R2 and R3 each represent an optionally substituted alkyl or alkenyl group containing 1 to 4 carbon or hydrogen atoms, or one of the groups R1, R2 and R3 represents the cyclohexyl radical or the benzyl radical, the remaining groups the meaning given above; or R1 and R2 together with the nitrogen atom form a ring containing 4 or 5 carbon atoms and which may contain an additional heteroatom; R3 has the meaning given first; R4 is a hydrocarbon group with 1 to 30 carbon atoms; X represents an anion; Y represents a hydrogen atom or a methyl group; m is 1 or 2; n is zero or an average number from 1 to 30; and when R4 contains less than 8 carbon atoms, Y is methyl and n is at least 3; and once the cleaning operation is finished, the resulting effluent emulsion breaks down by altering the pH in order to decompose the emulsifying agent; and the aqueous and non-aqueous phases are separated to recover the oil or fat and leave an aqueous layer practically uncontaminated. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding)