REMOVAL OF ORGANIC DEPOSITS

1 .- 49 . (canceled)

50 . A cleaning composition for removing organic deposits, the cleaning composition comprising

a first salt that is a salt of a conjugate base of an aliphatic phosphate diester;

a second salt that is a salt of a monoconjugate base of an aliphatic phosphate monoester; and

a hydrocarbon-based solvent system.

51 . The cleaning composition of claim 50 wherein the first and second salts are present in approximately equimolar amounts.

52 . The cleaning composition of claim 50 wherein the cleaning composition comprises about 0.1 weight % to 80 weight % of the combined first and second salts.

53 . The cleaning composition of claim 50 wherein the first salt and/or the second salt comprises an alkali metal salt, an ammonium salt, an alkylammonium salt or a hydroxyalkylammonium salt.

54 . The cleaning composition of claim 50 wherein the first salt has structure (A) and the second salt has structure (B),

wherein R 1 , R 2 and R 3 are independently C 4 -C 12 aliphatic groups;

n and m are independently 1 or 2; and

X and Y are independently monovalent or divalent cations.

55 . The cleaning composition of claim 54 , wherein X and Y are independently selected from Na + , NH 4 + , and HO—CH 2 —CH 2 —NH 3 + .

56 . A cleaning formulation comprising the cleaning composition of claim 50 and water, wherein the ratio by volume of the cleaning composition to the water is between 1:1 and 1:5.

57 . A method of removing organic deposits from an article, comprising

providing a cleaning composition, the composition comprising

a first salt that is the salt of the conjugate base of an aliphatic phosphate diester, and

a second salt that is the salt of the monoconjugate base of an aliphatic phosphate monoester,

a hydrocarbon-based solvent system; and

applying the cleaning composition to an article comprising an organic deposit.

58 . The method of claim 57 , further comprising applying water to the article.

59 . The method of claim 58 , comprising applying the cleaning composition to the article before applying the water to the article.

60 . The method of claim 58 , comprising combining the cleaning composition and the water and applying the combination to the article.

61 . The method of claim 58 further comprising separating an aqueous phase and a hydrocarbon-based phase after applying the cleaning composition to the article.

62 . The method of claim 61 wherein the separating comprises allowing a settling period of 1 to 1000 hours.

63 . The method of claim 57 wherein the applying is mixing the cleaning composition with a fluid flowing through a fluid flow system.

64 . The method of claim 63 wherein the mixing is mixing about 0.01% to 2% of the cleaning composition by volume of the fluid flowing through the fluid flow system.

65 . The method of claim 63 further comprising separating an aqueous phase and a hydrocarbon-based phase after the mixing.

66 . A method of preparing a cleaning composition, the method comprising:

providing a first solution comprising an aliphatic phosphate monoester and an aliphatic phosphate diester;

adding a base to the first solution in an amount sufficient to form a second solution comprising a salt of the monoconjugate base of the aliphatic phosphate monoester; and a salt of the conjugate base of the aliphatic phosphate diester; and

adding at least one hydrocarbon solvent to the second solution to form the cleaning composition.

67 . The method of claim 66 wherein the base is a basic solution.

68 . The method of claim 66 wherein the base comprises ammonia.

69 . The method of claim 57 further comprising adding water to the cleaning composition to form a cleaning formulation.