During operation of a spray booth water circulation system, the mixing of paint mist, additives and pump agitation makes it very easy for persistent, accumulated foam to form on the surface of the circulating water. This foam not only occupies effective volume, causing the water curtain in the spray booth to break off and the paint mist capture efficiency to drop, but also enters the piping with the water flow, causing pump cavitation and nozzle clogging and directly affecting the production rhythm.
Some antifoams on the market either break foam slowly, so that no sooner is the foam eliminated than it quickly regenerates, or they cause suspended matter in the water to aggregate after addition, affecting paint sludge dewatering and adding extra cost to the subsequent disposal of the waste residue. The common demand on the shop floor is: fast foam breaking, long suppression time, and no adhesive effect on the paint sludge.
In response to this situation, Chemi Tech has developed an antifoam designed specifically for spray booth water circulation. The product uses a compounded system of polyol esters and polysiloxanes, which can quickly destroy the composite foam film formed by paint mist and surfactants, causing the foam to collapse within seconds. At the same time, its long-chain molecular structure can form a lasting foam-suppressing network in the water body, inhibiting foam regeneration; after a single addition the foam suppression period can last 4-8 hours, depending on water quality and operating conditions.
In use, operators do not need to change the existing dosing process. The specific operating steps are as follows: Step one, install a simple dosing point at the return water inlet of the circulating water tank or ahead of the pump. Step two, add the Chemi Tech antifoam in one go at a ratio of 0.05%-0.1% of the total circulating water volume. Step three, observe the foam on the water surface as it subsides; if the foam thickness exceeds 3 cm, an additional 0.02%-0.03% may be added as appropriate. For routine maintenance, check the foam condition once per shift, and when foam accumulation is found, top up with half of the initial amount.
A vehicle component coating line used Chemi Tech antifoam in the water curtain circulating water tank. The line treated about 200 tons of water per day, and originally the foam had to be manually skimmed every 2 hours, which was time-consuming, laborious and ineffective. After switching to the Chemi Tech product, 20 liters of the concentrate were added on the first day, and the foam on the tank surface had basically subsided after 2 minutes; thereafter 10 liters were topped up every 8 hours. After 30 days of continuous operation, there was no record of pipe blockage, and the water content of the paint sludge after plate-and-frame filter pressing remained stable at 68%-72%, with no significant change compared with the period without antifoam. The shift leader reported that the equipment maintenance cycle was extended from weekly to monthly, and the labor intensity of the staff dropped by about 70%.
Chemi Tech antifoam is suitable for solvent-based and water-based paint coating lines. It performs stably on circulating water with a pH in the range of 6-9, does not corrode piping or equipment, and does not cause secondary adhesion. If you need to solve a stubborn spray booth foam problem, contact our technical team to obtain a test sample, or arrange for our engineers to evaluate the water quality on site and work out a dosing plan.