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Chemical-free, multisurface cleaning solution

30th August 2013

By: Chantelle Kotze

  

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For many years, cleaning contractors and various markets have had to deal with the risk of damaging various surfaces, owing to incorrect chemical use and dilutions, which subsequently created a need in the cleaning industry for a sustainable and green cleaning solution.

As a result, sustainable water-based cleaning technologies company Orbio Technologies developed the Orbio 5000-Sc machine, which industrial cleaning equipment supplier Goscor Cleaning Equipment (GCE) began distributing to the South African industrial cleaning market this month.

Orbio Technologies, which is part of the chemical-free industrial cleaning equipment manu- facturer Tennant group of companies and for which GCE already has distribution rights, provides an effective and sustainable chemical-free cleaning solution using the power of transformed water, as opposed to traditional packaged chemicals, says GCE MD Ricky Bodmer.

The US-manufactured Orbio 5000-Sc requires only a standard electric power source, a plumbed water supply, a drain and the occasional addition of salt to produce a multisurface cleaning solution on site, he says.

The Orbio 5000-Sc, comprising an all-in-one generator, storage and dispensing unit, can reduce or eliminate the need for many conventional daily use cleaning chemicals in a variety of applications, Bodmer notes.

The idea to supply this product to the South African market stemmed from Tennant’s sustainability vision, which aims to reduce the need for buying, transporting and disposing of conventional daily use cleaning chemicals and packaged products, thus reducing the carbon footprint of cleaning companies while delivering high-performance cleaning, with fewer negative environmental impacts.

“As with most green products, the consequence of removing harmful chemicals results in the need for tougher cleaning,” says Bodmer, noting, that Tennant is not, however, afraid to bring green cleaning products to market that are safe and have proven efficiencies.

How it Works
The Orbio 5000-Sc is designed on the principle of water electrolysis and produces an alkaline and acid stream, which is created by Orbio’s split-stream technology.

The incoming water enters the unit through a water-particle filter and passes through salt, which acts as a water softener and also removes minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, to create a good-quality water base.

The softened water then flows through a pressure regulator and electrical valve towards an electrolysis cell, where the water is split to run through both sides of the cell – the cathode side and the anode side.

The solution that exits the cathode side of the cell is subsequently stored inside the machine’s solution tank and is an alkaline cleaning solution, comprising a water and sodium hydroxide solution with a pH level of 11.

The solution exiting the anode side is a light acid solution of water and hypochlorous acid.

This anolyte solution, which is discharged into a drain, is first filtered using an active carbon filter in the machine’s small buffer tank.

The alkaline cleaning solution can then be dispensed and used as a daily cleaner.

The Orbio 5000-Sc produces the alkaline cleaning solution at a rate of 2.8 /min and stores the cleaning solution in a 450 built-in tank for easy dispensing. Once capacity inside the storage tank is reached, the machine automatically stops and switches to standby mode. When the solution is dispensed from the unit, it automatically starts producing new solution until the storage tank reaches capacity.

The cleaning solution can be dispensed in volume through the quick-fill gun, which can fill a 95 tank in less than two minutes, or into smaller containers using the bottle-fill valve.

Applications
The multipurpose Orbio 5000-Sc cleaning solution can be used as a substitute for all-purpose, glass and stainless steel cleaners and to remove fingerprints and organic and water-soluble grease and oils from a variety of common surfaces.

This means there are fewer spray bottles to manage on clean- ing carts and less training required on the various cleaning chemicals and their applications.

The cleaning solution also performs well when used in automatic cleaning equipment and is effective on several soils found in commercial and industrial applications.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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