Industrial Bulk containers, commonly known as IBC tanks, are often used to hold liquids, materials, cleaning chemicals, sterile water, and waste items in breweries, beverage production facilities, dairies, and other industrial environments.
If you do have an IBC tank, you probably saw its great importance and usage in your businesses and resources. IBCs are heavy-duty and reusable tanks. However, they may rapidly get contaminated and provide a breeding ground for microbial pollutants.
Regular cleaning is consequently required to maintain your tank’s cleanliness and prevent product deterioration. Now the question is, how do you clean up a huge tank?
IBC tanks are quite similar to stainless steel water tanks. Many businesses clean and reuse them for transporting prominent ingredients. Thus, cleaning could be a time-consuming, costly, and wasteful operation if the proper procedure and equipment are not correctly applied.
To help you with this problem, you might want to check out the step-by-step procedures we have taken down to clean your IBC Tank properly.
How To Properly Clean Out An IBC Tank?
1. Drain the Tank
Consider that you are trying to clean the tank, and to do so, you must first remove the unclean stock of liquid within it, whether it be water or another form of fluid.
There are four recommended methods for draining an IBC of the material:
1. Preheat the substance to lower its viscosity and allow it to stream more freely out of the tank.
2. Physically or mechanically rotate the IBC. You will need help with this and a significant amount of force.
3. Scrounge out the remaining content with a shovel. When a substance is very sticky, it may latch to corners or edges of the IBC.
4. Use a vacuum to clean the dip pipe inside the IBC.
Carefully transfer the residual waste upon cleaning to incineration or a regulated landfill in each circumstance. You should constantly release the tank's valve and drain all liquids within, then wait until the tank is empty.
2. Mix the Water and Cleaning Solution
The best efficient way to sterilize an IBC Tank is to use a water-soluble acidic solution at a concentration high enough to remove the biological hazards in the container. The tank will next need to be cleansed with lots of water to eliminate chemical residues contaminating the product.
This procedure tends to be wasteful in water and energy and could harm the environment. Hence, the key to sustainable IBC cleaning is the proper delivery system and the cleaning chemical utilized in the whole process.
Wash the container with cleansing water and a cleaning product, such as detergent. Fill the tank with the solution-mixed water and drain it using a hose. Afterward, pour 1 to 2 boxes of baking soda and refill the tank with water using a hose. Allow it to rest for at least a day before rinsing.
Whenever there is a remaining trace of oil or odor in the container, repeat the baking soda and water method, and if the stench persists, you will need to purchase a new tank.
3. Thoroughly Clean the Inside
After the baking soda, empty and wipe the interior of the tank to eliminate any remaining residue. The tank should then be flushed with lots of water and scrubbed with the hose to thoroughly cleanse each corner and remove any detergent or baking soda.
Most forget how heavy water is, 2294 lbs to be precise, even though it would be nowhere near complete throughout the cleaning. You may also put a scrubbing pad or two washrags in the container to offer some physical scrubbing motion.
When cleaning your tank, make sure that you drain everything in an area that will not be harmed by chemicals or odor.
4. Fill Back Up
You will be done with the whole process of cleaning once you are through, so don't forget to put everything back together and fill the tank back up with water or whatever fluid you wish to use. Your tank is now ready to be used!
IBC containers may be a beneficial and fruitful investment if you apply good practice; it's crucial to follow best practices to guarantee that the containers are safe to use.
Takeaway
IBC tanks are commonly used to transport hazardous materials, and IBCs purchased own usage are often discovered in a 'casual' manner. This poses a threat to the environment as well as human life.
People must only clean IBCs that can be verified as non-hazardous. If no labels are there and no information about the previous product is accessible, you should presume it is harmful and undertake a professional clean.
You may desire to clean and reuse an IBC tote for a variety of reasons. They're typical for DIY projects, and many businesses will wash and reuse them for transporting prominent ingredients.
Washing and reusing your IBC totes may be a viable alternative if you use them to convey the same commodities regularly. It's a great concept to indulge in a professional-grade cleaning system in these situations. A high-pressure hose, a recirculating tank, and a mechanism for applying a range of detergents and solvents are usually included.
It's critical to understand what the IBC was last filled with. Labels may be included in the IBC. Even if they could offer you some idea about a product it once contained, they may not represent the recently contained product since it has been used several times subsequently by different individuals.
Dangerous products are simply: hazardous. Hence extreme caution should be used while handling IBCs with hazardous labeling.