Part II: Beyond MSO and Implementing the New MSO-Free Standard

Advances in raw materials have completely rewritten the rules of vehicle surface protection and drying within carwash chemistry. Since the development of ceramic technology, blenders have faced a forced compromise: cheap but flawed MSO microemulsions versus premium, cost-prohibitive ceramic luxury coatings. Colonial Chemical has broken this economic barrier by engineering MSO/oil-free drying technologies that solve legacy issues at highly competitive price points. These ready-to-use solutions deliver a competitive cost per car and stable pricing while eliminating labor-intensive manufacturing by utilizing electrostatic deposition instead of a traditional microemulsion. These non-flammable formulas require no expensive additives, provide improved dilution stability, and deliver drastically improved durability with highly efficient water removal. By outperforming MSO formulas and eliminating hidden costs, these technologies give your operation a major economic edge.

Cola®Dry CAV delivers high-end ceramic results at a lower cost by pairing our proven ceramic technology with a novel, multi-functional, non-ceramic chemistry. This formulation allows us to balance ceramic materials and maintain peak performance while securing an optimal price point. While both Cola®Dry CAV and our first-generation Cola®Dry CR-502 are highly versatile and can scale across the entire range of applications from economy drying aids to premium ceramic offerings, each is optimized for opposite ends of that spectrum. Engineered with chemistries unique to Colonial Chemical, Cola®Dry CAV focuses specifically on water-sheeting action to maximize drying-aid performance while also offering a newfound cost efficiency. Similarly, Cola®Dry CR-502 utilizes its own unique blend of chemistries but optimized for premium ceramic coatings using balanced sheeting and beading for a more traditional action with efficient blower removal. Regardless of selection, being 100% MSO-free ensures flawless optical clarity, zero glass smearing, and a high-gloss finish. Which product you choose depends entirely on what stage of the wash you’re trying to optimize. Both options leverage ultra-lean dosing to help blenders reduce shipping and freight costs while protecting profit margins through the growing trend of highly concentrated chemistry.

These versatile MSO-free technologies are highly adaptable across various wash formats. Perfect for self-service applications, these solutions make air drying easier and provide reduced toweling for washes that offer these options. Furthermore, they achieve these performance results with consumer-safe chemistry. While many in-bay automatics (IBA) typically follow the drying aid with a spot-free rinse, some tunnel operations bypass the rinse and send vehicles straight to the blowers. These formulations feature unique dual functionality that serves either set-up: they deliver an effective water break both with and without a subsequent rinse stage. Additionally, because of exceptionally high dilution rates, they do not leave product films or contribute to water spotting when left on the surface as a final stage without a rinse. The versatile performance from high to low dilution allows operators of any format to implement the products upstream, significantly reducing total MSO usage in premium offerings as well. Across all wash categories, these products can extend the ultra-lean dilution range for drying aids past 1:2000 when preceded by other protectants. Water utility optimization is also a key benefit. The complete lack of MSO ensures significantly lower chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic carbon (TOC), which reduce wastewater costs and make these products not just reclamation compatible but optimal reclaim efficient options.

Successful integration of these technologies requires adhering to mandatory application and deployment rules. The vehicle surface must be pre-neutralized to a neutral or acidic pH before application. Without thorough surface preparation, the drying aid will need to break through any residual alkalinity before becoming effective, limiting the dilution-performance of the products. Second, the lack of viscous oils in these water-thin products causes rapid draw rates with venturi injectors. Fortunately, operators without the option of adjusting flow rates can easily manage this fast draw by installing precision metering modules. These highly cost-effective tools unlock the true profit potential of the ultra-lean performance window (1:250 to 1:2000) with zero over-dosing waste or risk of clogged injector tips. While pre-dilution is another viable path to lower the required injection ratio, using a metering module delivers the highest efficiency and lowest chemical footprint. Moving away from the 50-year-old liabilities of mineral seal oil does not require complex operational overhauls, just a smarter chemical strategy that protects the car, the facility, and the bottom line.

Recap

Colonial Chemical provides innovative products, Cola®Dry CAV and Cola®Dry CR-502, that resolve the issues typical of mineral seal oil drying aid formulations:

Manufacturing Challenges

• Labor intensive production related to microemulsion preparation
  • RTU products don’t rely on microemulsion but electrostatic deposition
• Formulation required
  • Simple dilutions are all that’s needed to unlock product performance
• Limited performance claims
  • Ceramic products provide a durable coating that protects and improves shine on top of improved water-breaking
• Requires additives and other formulation costs
  • The additives needed to optimize water break, durability and claims are part of these products
• Oil price volatility
  • Our MSO/Oil-free products are drastically separated from oil prices
• Flammability and associated operations costs
  • Non-flammable

Operation Challenges

• Dilution-Performance failures
  • Significantly wider dilution-performance window providing more reliable drying
• Micro-droplets and water spotting
  • Highly efficient water removal action to prevent water spotting
• Oil residues
  • MSO/Oil-free with no residue even at lower dilutions
• Instability and gelling
  • No microemulsion means a stable product and stable pre-dilutions
• Wastewater costs and reclamation incompatibility
  • Lower TOC and COD lead to lower wastewater costs and products optimized for reclamation systems
• Low durability leads to difficult soil removal for return customers
  • High durability even at dilute drying aid levels means soils do not adhere as strongly to vehicle surfaces, making return vehicles easier to clean and customers happier

Requirements

• Neutral-to-acidic surface pH before application ensures dilution-performance of these products
• Water-thin viscosity can increase draw rates on venturi injectors; cheap and easily integrated metering modules are available to operators with limited dilution strategies for low-viscosity products.

Part One: The Traditional Petroleum Standard

In the specialized world of carwash chemistry, people may think that innovations in hydrophobic technologies have peaked, but the standard drying technology is due for an upgrade. Oil microemulsions have served as the unchallenged drying aid standard for carwash operators over the last half-century. The chief example is a microemulsion of mineral seal oil (MSO) and quaternary ammonium emulsifiers like dicocodimonium chloride. While historically effective at shedding water, MSO formulations carry a long list of familiar complications that drain the entire supply chain. To understand why a shift in surface chemistry is long overdue, we must look at the problem from two distinct angles: the hidden production and raw material penalties hitting chemical manufacturers, and the real-world performance headaches plaguing carwash operators in the tunnel.

Issues for the Manufacturer (Blenders)

Continuing to manufacture MSO drying aids requires a labor-intensive manufacturing process along with a list of other complications. A stable microemulsion must be formulated and if raw material consistency fluctuates rework increases batch times and cost. Relying on MSO ties raw material costs directly to highly unpredictable global oil markets as well, hurting long-term pricing stability for clients. Furthermore, many MSO-formulations carry low flashpoints, introducing heavy regulatory friction regarding flammable liquid classifications, plant safety compliance, shipping logistics, and insurance costs. These formulas also have numerous hidden formulation cost penalties for blenders. MSO formulas come with limited performance claims and expensive additives are required to achieve any further product benefits. Additionally, these formulas break water aggressively into tiny micro-droplets that are difficult to remove even with the assistance of blowers. These remaining droplets leave the car wet, can cause water spotting, and lead to customer complaints; remedies for this issue come with additional costs to the formulation. To make matters worse, these legacy formulas possess limited dilution stability, which heavily restricts operational flexibility and application options for carwash operators. 

Issues for the Operator

Downstream field performance failures lead directly to operator headaches and customer complaints. Oily MSO residue builds up on bay floors, while also coating vehicle glass causing dangerous nighttime glare and windshield wiper smearing. These traditional formulas also suffer from physical instability and severe viscosity spikes in cold weather, causing chemical line gelling that triggers unscheduled tunnel shutdowns. Mineral seal oil raises wastewater costs and hinders modern water reclamation loops resulting in increased utility costs that continue to rise in areas prone to drought. MSO formulas operate within a narrow performance window where over-dosing leads to immediate water-break failure, heavy oil films, and unhappy carwash customers. Finally, the short-lived protection of these formulas leaves vehicles vulnerable to stubborn soil deposits, UV damage, and a water-break that immediately fades after leaving the carwash. Because soils adhere more thoroughly to unprotected surfaces, basic package customers often return with difficult-to-clean cars, making customer complaints more likely.

The era of mineral seal oil could be positioned for change, and there are solutions through Colonial Chemical for MSO-free, advanced ceramic-based innovations to grab a competitive edge. Part II details how Colonial Chemical’s modern surface chemistries will eliminate manufacturing and operator headaches, improve performance, and lower costs for blenders and carwash operators alike.

Recap

Mineral seal oil drying aid technology comes with a host of issues that should be familiar to manufacturers and carwash operators alike:

Manufacturing Challenges

• Labor intensive production related to microemulsion preparation
• Formulation required
• Limited performance claims
• Requires additives and other formulation costs
• Oil price volatility
• Flammability and associated operations costs

Operation Challenges

• Dilution-Performance failures
• Micro-droplets and water spotting 
• Oil residues 
• Instability and gelling 
• Wastewater costs and reclamation incompatibility 
• Low durability leads to difficult soil removal for return customers 

Part II will detail Colonial Chemical’s innovative technologies to resolve these troubles.