While there don’t seem to be overall, universal constraints on cleanroom chemicals, care in the selection and application of chemicals are needed for janitorial cleaning and disinfection.

Additional complexities arise when both viable and non-viable contamination must be considered. Where viable contamination is an issue, organisms can find ways to “outsmart” the cleaning agent, so disinfectants are typically rotated every 30 days. Perhaps in part because organisms are adaptable, the emphasis is on guidance documents. So, for example, ASTM E26142 includes considerations in selection of disinfectants for cleanrooms and recommendations for appropriate test methods rather than “musts” and “must nots.”

This cleanroom tip was taken from “Chemicals in Cleanrooms,” which appeared in the April 2013 issue of Controlled Environments.