Floor Cleaner Solutions - Chemists Corner

Formulating

Floor Cleaner Solutions

Posted by ravimosai on November 28, 2018 at 12:22 pm

benzalkonium chloride solution 40%: 4.5%
lauryl alcohol ethoxylate: 3%
Sles: 0.5%
IPA: 8%
CAPB: 1%
Pine Oil: 5%
Water to 100%
Fragnance QS
Colour QS

Any feedback??

Gobel replied 6 years, 4 months ago 6 Members · 11 Replies
11 Replies

OldPerry

Professional Chemist / Formulator
November 28, 2018 at 2:25 pm

What are your specific questions?
ravimosai

Member
November 28, 2018 at 3:38 pm

Perry said:

What are your specific questions?

Trying to find out if my floor cleaner formula is right. Had another formula which didn’t work.
Chemist77

Member
November 28, 2018 at 4:01 pm

How do you know it didn’t work, what was the customer feedback.
ozgirl

Member
November 28, 2018 at 9:49 pm

The benzalkonium chloride (cationic) will be incompatible with the SLES (anionic). Leave out the SLES.

The pine oil level seems high to me. Reduce it if you have trouble keeping it stable.

I am assuming because of the high level of benzalkonium chloride that this is a disinfecting cleaner that is diluted before use.

Check out UL Prospector and Ernest W Flicks books for some other starting formulations.

Hope this helps.
Gunther

Member
November 29, 2018 at 2:59 am

ravimosai said:

benzalkonium chloride solution 40%: 4.5%
lauryl alcohol ethoxylate: 3%
Sles: 0.5%
IPA: 8%
CAPB: 1%
Pine Oil: 5%
Water to 100%
Fragnance QS
Colour QS

Any feedback??

Pine oil is too high
I wonder if 8% IPA will be enough to make pine oil hold in solution without emulsifiers.
Also, 5% pine oil will be expensive
Even Pine-Sol no longer contains any pine oil
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine-Sol

Drop SLES and replace with a glucoside or sulfonate.

Alcohol ethoxylate may be higher if you want.
ravimosai

Member
November 29, 2018 at 3:00 pm

Gunther and Ozgirl

Thanks for the valuable Feedback.

Pine Oil is not holding. Hence I am dropping it. Here is any formulation I have worked out on the advice given by both of you.

benzalkonium chloride solution 40%: 4.5%
lauryl alcohol ethoxylate: 6%
Glucoside: 1.5%
IPA: 8%
CAPB: 1%
EDTA: .2%
Water to 100%
Fragnance QS
Colour QS

I have also added EDTA to this formulation.

Will it advice able to add Sodium Bi Carbonate around 2% to this formula?
Gunther

Member
November 29, 2018 at 10:33 pm

IMO Sodium bicarbonate will leave a white residue on floors, when the cleaner evaporates.
Remember floors ain’t rinsed like shampoos and body soaps.

CAPB might leave a slippery or sticky afterfeel.
ravimosai

Member
November 29, 2018 at 10:54 pm

Gunther said:

IMO Sodium bicarbonate will leave a white residue on floors, when the cleaner evaporates.
Remember floors ain’t rinsed like shampoos and body soaps.

CAPB might leave a slippery or sticky afterfeel.

Okay.

So if I drop CAPB and Bicarbonate then other
ingredients are fine?
Gunther

Member
December 1, 2018 at 3:43 am

You’ll need to make lots of tests yourself.

Get some bare black and white tiles
black (or dark colored) to make sure no white residue is left on
white to make sure it doesn’t stain floors (although most floor cleaners have bright colorants, so at least make sure the stain can be easily mop off.

Also, test to make sure no sticky or slippery residues are left.
ravimosai

Member
December 1, 2018 at 4:59 pm

Gunther said:

You’ll need to make lots of tests yourself.

Get some bare black and white tiles
black (or dark colored) to make sure no white residue is left on
white to make sure it doesn’t stain floors (although most floor cleaners have bright colorants, so at least make sure the stain can be easily mop off.

Also, test to make sure no sticky or slippery residues are left.

Thanks..
Gobel

Member
December 4, 2018 at 11:43 am

@ravimosai i am waiting for your experiment results as Gunther pointed it out to try it myself. Please do let me know what you achieved and how?