US-12618025-B2 - Chemical product for rapid removal of food burned on to the surfaces of cooktops

Abstract

The chemical formulations use chemicals that are use or have been used for other cleaning purposes such as rust stains, but not for glass or glass-ceramic cooktop surfaces. In an embodiment for cleaning glass or glass-ceramic surfaces, percentages of active ingredients, such as either hydrofluoric acid (HF) or ammonium bifluoride (NH4HF2), can be formulated at an about an order lower in concentration by weight than those formulations originally used for removing rust stains (e.g. using the same chemicals for removing rust stains but with a lower concentration for different uses, wherein a different use includes removal of food burned onto cooktops). Additionally, even at the lower concentrations of the active ingredient the physical effort involved and the time for cleaning/removal are much less than with commercially available cleaning products.

Inventors

• William Quan

Assignees

• William Quan

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20230829

Claims (5)

1. 1 . A method of removing burned acrylamides from a ceramic glass cooktop suface comprising: providing a cleaning solution of fluoroboric acid; wherein the fluoroboric acid cleaning solution is formed from a heated aqueous solution of about 3.5% by weight ammonium bifluoride and about 2.5% by weight boric acid; applying the fluoroboric acid to the ceramic glass cooktop surface having the burned acrylamides, said fluoroboric acid removing the burned acrylamides from the ceramic glass cooktop surface.
2. 2 . A method of cleaning a blackened food stain from a ceramic glass cooktop surface comprising: providing a non-etching formulation for cleaning the blackened food stain from the ceramic glass cooktop surface; wherein the non-etching formulation consists of water and about 0.5% by weight to about 2.5% by weight of hydrofluoric acid (HF); applying the non-etching formulation to the blackened food stain on the ceramic glass cooktop surface, and removing the blackened food stain from the ceramic glass cooktop surface.
3. 3 . The method of claim 2 wherein the cleaning and removal of the blackened food stain is completed in less than 2 minutes.
4. 4 . The method of claim 2 wherein the blackened food stain comprises acrylamides, rice, sugar, porridge, or oatmeal.
5. 5 . The method of claim 2 wherein the non-etching formulation having 2.5% by weight of hydrofluoric acid (HF) provides a pH of about 2.59.

Description

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/217,094 filed on Mar. 30, 2021, and claims priority to U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 63/101,027 filed on Apr. 14, 2020, which is incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND There is usually no problem when heated food or even uncooked food gets on a cooktop surface when it is clean up right away. Oftentimes though this is not the typical scenario. Sometimes food, whether it is already burned into the surface or not, is left to be cleaned up for the next day or maybe even some months down the road when the food already burned on to the surface has been repeatedly burned as the cooktop is used for cooking. Presently, there are a wide variety of products that are recommended for cleaning cooktops. They range from home remedies, such as baking soda and lemon juice to commercial products that range from a single active ingredient, such as isopropyl alcohol, to a mixture of organic chemicals to weak acids like citric acid to something akin to a specially chemically formulated scrub sponge. These products have varying levels of efficacies based on a review of customer comments found on the Internet. One product that seems most effective appears to be the home remedy using baking soda and lemon juice, but it appears to take several applications and is quite labor intensive. The time for removal appears to be in the order of 10 minutes. Therefore, there exists a need for a reliable product to quickly remove food which had been burned or repeatedly burned over time, such as months, on to the surface of cooktops. The product should be safe to use and price competitive. The U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,208 rust stain remover by Iron Out, Inc includes a product named Whink, which includes a critical ingredient, fluoroboric acid, produced from a reaction between ammonium bifluoride and boric acid. Other ingredients in the Whink product include oxalic acid, citric acid, a thickener, a surfactant and perfume oil. The thickener is important for the use as a rust stain remover where vertical surfaces such as toilet bowls are involved, but probably not so vital for cooktop surfaces which are typically horizontal. Oxalic acid aids in the removal of rust as it typically complexes with the iron, Fe, of the ferric oxide often found in rust, but may not be necessary as an ingredient for cooktop cleaners. The U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,208 does not address the removing or cleaning of chemical compounds in food burned or baked on the cooktop surface. U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,208, includes formulations that would etch glass. In terms of concentration, the U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,208 by Crist includes ammonium bifluoride of 3.5% by weight for one of its rust stain remover formulations. SUMMARY One or more embodiments relates to removing stains from glass, ceramic, or glass-ceramic surfaces. The glass, ceramic, or glass-ceramic surfaces may be found or used in cooktops. Alternatively, one or more embodiments relates to removing stains from cooktops. Stains may include food particles (or food) burned onto the glass, ceramic, or glass-ceramic surfaces. One or more embodiments relates to a modification or a (e.g., different or variant) version of a rust stain remover for removal of food that has been burned and re-burned (e.g., perhaps) continually over months onto surfaces (e.g., surfaces of cooktops made of glass, ceramic, or combination of both materials). In one or more embodiments include a much lower concentration of the use of ammonium bifluoride to remove stains of burnt food. For example, it was found that a lower concentration of ammonium bifluoride (e.g., less than half the 3.5% ammonium bifluoride concentration by weight used in U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,208) was found to be effective in removing food that had been burned on surface(s) of cooktop(s). In one experiment an embodiment including a concentration of about 0.5% (e.g., with plus or minus 30% tolerance range) of ammonium bifluoride by weight was found to be effective in removing food that has been burned on surface(s) of cooktop(s). Another embodiment including even lower concentration levels of ammonium bifluoride such as about 0.05% (e.g., with plus or minus 30% tolerance range) concentration by weight still showed some effectiveness (e.g., 40% to 60% effective) in removing food that has been burned on a surface of a cooktop (e.g., when compared to the concentrations of 0.5% plus or minus 30% tolerance). Another embodiment may not require including a thickener. Alternatively, an embodiment may not require including a surfactant. One or more embodiments includes at least one (e.g., novel) formulation for removal of food that has been burned and re-burned perhaps continually over months onto the surfaces of cooktops made of glass, ceramic, or combination of both materials. At least one embodiment includes a range of formulations for removal of food burned (or baked) onto surfaces of cooktops. For example, cooktops may includ