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Washing IBC's

I just finished cutting my IBC totes. I was told they had contained peroxide at a chicken processing plant, but I am not sure they were not hit with some kind of soap. I can not smell anything, but a few were wet inside.It did not feel slippery.

I plan to hit them all with a pressure washer as soon as I can, but is there a chemical you would recommend to scrub into the surfaces. I was thinking of vinegar or maybe even ammonia if I can find some in bigger containers without any detergents.

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Permalink Reply by Roger Baldwin on January 25, 2013 at 3:47pm

I used dish soap and water and then rinsed the several times. I have not had any problems with residual soap. I have heard that Oxyclean works well and is not harmful.

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Permalink Reply by Vlad Jovanovic on January 25, 2013 at 4:28pm

The active ingredient in Oxyclean is sodium percarbonate (2Na₂CO₃ · 3H₂O₂.). It is just the solid form of hydrogen peroxide. I have a big bag of it and use it for all sorts of stuff. I also used it (and same baking soda) to clean out some of my IBC's (which only had apple juice in them anyways). It seemed to work real well. It might be cheaper to buy a bag of it, than to buy the same stuff in colorful bag, re-packaged and marketed as "Oxyclean"...but either way, it's a good bet. (It breaks down in into just oxygen, water and a bit of sodium carbonate...so it's all really safe to use in that way)...