Molten salt chemicals, equipment, and support: Extreme Cleaning Technologies® since 1939

From process testing on your parts to bath analysis and field service, we help you remove coatings, scale, casting residues, and other difficult soils.

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What does Kolene make for metal cleaning and heat treating?

We make molten salt chemistry, the equipment that runs it, and the services that support it. Cleaning chemicals include Kastech®, Virgo™, and Kolene No. series salts and the Recover® paint stripping process. Heat treat chemicals include Iso-Heat®, Iso-Therm®, and Iso-Braze® salts and quench oils, and we supply salts for ferritic nitrocarburizing. We build molten salt cleaning systems and salt bath nitriding lines, supply replacement parts, and offer commercial processing at our Detroit plant, field services, and lab services. Heat treat furnaces come from Upton Industries, A Kolene Company.

Booth 327 Kolene Corporation

Visit us at ICI 2026

Meet the Kolene team on the show floor to talk about molten salt heat treatment, cleaning, nitriding, and equipment.

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Upcoming shows

  1. ICI 2026 Booth 327, DeVos Place, Grand Rapids, MI
  2. SAE/DOW 2026 Booth 732, Fort Lauderdale, FL

Process chemistry

Cleaning Chemicals

Kastech, Virgo, and Kolene No. series salts and the Recover paint stripping process, for descaling, casting cleaning, and paint stripping.

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Heat Treat Chemicals

Iso-Heat neutral salts, Iso-Therm martempering and austempering quench salts, Iso-Braze brazing salts, and quench oils.

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Ferritic Nitrocarburizing

Salt bath FNC for wear- and corrosion-resistant steel parts: Kolene FNC-Base® bath salt, FNC-Regen® regenerator, and QS® oxidizing quench salt.

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Need a Safety Data Sheet? Request an SDS

Equipment

Cleaning Systems

Molten salt cleaning systems for paint stripping, casting cleaning, and descaling, designed around your parts, from batch salt baths to Kontinuous™ in-line rack stripping.

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Nitriding Systems

Salt bath nitriding lines from prewash and preheat through nitriding furnaces and oxidizing quench, specified together with the Kolene® salts they run.

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Replacement Parts

Replacement parts for our salt bath and nitriding equipment, from burner tubes and igniters to sparging rings, with help identifying the part you need.

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Heat treat furnaces come from Upton Industries, A Kolene Company, which has built salt bath, batch, pit, and specialty furnaces since 1937.

Applications

Strip paint and coatings

Clean castings and engine parts

Descale and remove lubricants

Also see Marine Applications, Military Applications, and Support Products (hex chrome treatment, brightening agents, and sludge management).

Services

  • Worker in a white coat handling polished aluminum wheels beside a blue industrial machine

    Commercial Processing

    Send us rejected painted parts or castings and we strip or clean them at our Detroit plant with Kolene Recover and Kastech processes.

    See commercial processing
  • Hands holding a yellow digital multimeter with a red probe against a wired electrical control panel

    Field Services

    Kolene technicians start up lines, run preventative maintenance inspections, pump out and recharge salt baths, and train your operators on site.

    See field services
  • Technician in a white lab coat and blue gloves reaching for glassware in a laboratory

    Lab Services

    Salt bath and sludge analysis for cleaning, heat treat, and FNC baths, so you can keep bath chemistry in range and parts consistent.

    See lab services

Have parts to strip, clean, or heat treat? Tell us the alloy, the coating or residue, and your volume, and we will recommend a salt, a system, or a service.

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