Process Friendly Soap for Washdown of Work Areas Where Hexavalent Chrome Paints/Primers are Applied

ABSTRACT: Exposure to hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) poses significant health risks to personnel involved in processing chromium containing materials. Therefore, thorough cleaning of residues of material containing Cr(VI) is extremely important. The soaps used currently to clean the areas contaminated with Cr(VI) negatively affect with processes of heavy metal recovery from washdown and waste waters. This is caused by competitive binding of the active soap ingredients to the heavy-metal ions; thus, the chelating agent and ion exchanges cannot react with the metal cations. In order to mitigate the problems created by the use of regular soaps, a designer soap, that is process friendly, allows complete removal of the Cr(VI) materials from contaminated surfaces, and does not reduce the efficiency of heavy metal collection from washdown and waste waters needs to be used is needed to be used in the designated work areas. In response to this problem, Infoscitex Corporation (IST) has developed a concept for a novel designer soap that will Efficiently remove Cr(VI) contamination Be inert towards recoverable heavy metal cations Be environmentally friendly and inexpensive BENEFIT: Military Application: Most DoD paint/depaint operations run their waste water thru an industrial waste water treatment plant for treatment to remove regulated wastes. Each DoD facility would benefit from such a soap. Commercial Application: Commercial paint and depaint facilities could benefit from a designer soap that would not interfere with the treatment of metals at the industrial waste treatment facilities.