A cleanroom is only ever as clean as the materials taken in and the processes carried out in the room. As cleaning materials can affect that cleanliness, Dr Tim Sandle describes a recent study into particle generation from non-cleanroom and cleanroom wipes.
Cleanroom wipes are used to clean different kinds of surfaces. The essence of using wipes to clean the surfaces and equipment is to ensure that any bacteria or fungi present as contamination on the surface are removed and, where the wipe contains a disinfectant, for the majority of the micro-organisms to be killed.
There are many different types of cleanroom wipes. Some are dry wipes and others are pre-saturated with a disinfectant (used to clean-up spills or to absorb liquids and to disinfect the surface1). With saturated wipes there are two important considerations: the efficacy of the disinfectant and the particle generation from the use of the wipe. Neither of these considerations has been examined in any great detail, based on the limited number of published studies.
In terms of disinfectant efficacy, there have been studies on the disinfectants used to saturate the wipes but little examination of how effective the disinfectant is once it is bound into the wipe fabric and used to wipe a surface (the only standard for such an examination is applicable to the food industry).
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