Hi,

Im performing a cleansing/biofilm removal of my company's in house DI water system. In the literature I find most groups run 2% NaOH at elevated temp (50-60C). The articles I've found (attached) however do not specify what 2 percent is (w/w?, v/v?, mol/mol?, w/v?)!

Is there a specific etiquette about alkali solutions in industry? 

If anyone has any experience with biofilm removal and could weigh in that would be very much appreciated, or if anyone has access to literature databases and is able to find other articles which provide this information. Thank you!

Biofilms vs Chemicals paper.pdf Removal of Biofilm atricle.pdf

39 minutes ago, GM42489 said:

Hi,

Im performing a cleansing/biofilm removal of my company's in house DI water system. In the literature I find most groups run 2% NaOH at elevated temp (50-60C). The articles I've found (attached) however do not specify what 2 percent is (w/w?, v/v?, mol/mol?, w/v?)!

Is there a specific etiquette about alkali solutions in industry? 

If anyone has any experience with biofilm removal and could weigh in that would be very much appreciated, or if anyone has access to literature databases and is able to find other articles which provide this information. Thank you!

Biofilms vs Chemicals paper.pdf 102.03 kB · 0 downloads Removal of Biofilm atricle.pdf 142.11 kB · 0 downloads

That depends on whether you are using solid or liquid NaOH to make the solution.

Biology papers frequently don’t specify, but I believe the assumption is generally w/v.

On 4/15/2020 at 4:19 AM, hypervalent_iodine said:

Biology papers frequently don’t specify, but I believe the assumption is generally w/v.

It is weird, isn't it? Is it only me or are bio papers getting sloppier in the last one or two decades?

6 hours ago, CharonY said:

It is weird, isn't it? Is it only me or are bio papers getting sloppier in the last one or two decades?

I’d certainly believe it. A lot of the students I’ve dealt with over the last 5 years in the micro and genetics labs I’ve worked in don’t seem to realise that there is an inherent ambiguity, because that is just how they’ve always interpreted it. 

Thanks everyone for your input. 

StringJunky: The articles didnt specify any information about the starting materials/solution. 

I ended up going with w/w (in this case is effectively w/v). 

Please keep the information coming. I'll be checking in until we perform the cleaning.

Thanks all