How to clean liquid caustic tanks? ? ?
Thread Content
There is a 50m3 tank containing liquid caustic soda, with only a small amount of liquid left at the bottom of the tank. The tank is ready to be lifted away; how can the residual material inside be removed? The workers plan to wear chemical protective suits and long-term respirators to carry out this task – is this feasible?
There’s no need to rush. First dilute it with water, then rinse; if it’s still not clean, proceed with further cleaning! Maybe using a high-pressure water gun to clean it will solve the problem
Does wearing PPE mean one can do anything?
This post was last edited by ylb913 on 2015-7-8 06:21; after being washed twice, it was removed as alkaline residue. The rinse water from later stages, or the condensate water from the steam drum, is discharged directly as waste water.
A little of the liquid will remain in the tank and cannot be drained. Workers wear rubber shoes, rubber gloves, and protective goggles; they bring in a bucket of clean water as a contingency measure. The alkaline solution is then poured into the bucket using a shovel and carried out of the tank
First, rinse with tap water, then rinse with a dilute acid (make sure the concentration is not too high; generally, the pH should be around 1–2). After checking that the pH is above 6, rinse again with tap water.
First, rinse with clean water to remove what can be washed away; then soak the remaining alkaline residue in some dilute acid, and rinse it again with water. The very hard alkali residue at the end can be removed manually, by wearing a mask and respiratory protection.
They’re all amateurs. It’s best to enter for cleaning; proper personal protection is necessary. Chemical protective suits are suitable for this purpose, and it’s also important to follow the regulations regarding work in confined spaces. I’m not sure how to connect longer tubes to the chemical protective suits – all of the suits used in our company are sealed
Chemical protective suits can be connected to an external air supply, but it is advisable for users to be equipped with an emergency escape device. There are also chemical protective suits that are not fully airtight; these are open-type chemical protective suits, in which the user’s face is exposed, and a long-tube respirator can be used for the face.