Cleaning innovation saves money

A rapidly growing number of food production companies are enjoying the benefits of a new cleaning chemistry. Dasic International has developed a range of thin liquids that gel on dilution with water.

The light, viscoelastic gels are easily pumped through a spray head onto a surface, but when the spray comes into contact with the surface to be cleaned, the pumping energy dissipates and the gel is instantly reformed, leaving a noticeable film covering the soiled area. The gel is sufficiently viscous to resist gravity and stays in contact with the soiled area for long periods. This innovative approach gives a substantial reduction in chemical costs.

Complete breakdown Rheology is the science of the deformation and flow of matter and using this science Dasic has developed a gel that can be applied to a surface to ensure an effective and efficient coating on both horizontal and vertical surfaces – of all kinds. Unlike foaming products, the gel clings well to wet and heavily soiled vertical surfaces. This gives sufficient time for a complete breakdown of the soiling. Because of the gel's rheological properties, one application is all that is usually required, which provides substantial savings in chemical costs. Typically, users report that they need a third to half the amount of cleaning chemical compared with foaming products. The special shear thinning rheology also ensures exceptionally easy rinsing, giving significant savings in water usage. The length of time the gel is attached to the surface brings a further advantage. Most industry cleaning detergents work by chemically reacting with soiling. In the case of alkaline cleaners, this often involves the conversion of fatty soiling into soap and, if hypochlorite bleach is included in the formulation, there is an additional reaction involving the break down of protein soiling by chlorine. In the case of acidic de-scaling, there is a chemical reaction between acid and carbonate hard water scales. All of these reactions take time, typically 15 to 30 minutes for fatty soils. The new technology allows sufficient contact time for these reactions to work completely, which means that all that is required to remove soiling is simple rinsing, and the need for hand padding is almost completely eliminated. However, the savings would be of little benefit if there was a negative impact on microbial counts. But because a gel, unlike foams, will stay in contact with organic soils, enough time is created to allow for their complete breakdown and removal. Cracks and crevices are penetrated and tenacious bio-films are eliminated.The knock-on effect has been that users are reporting large reductions in their product counts, enabling them to pass on real benefits to their customers. The specially developed rheology ensures easy rinsing, avoid the problems of chasing foam across the floor and reduces water usage. All this combines to give shorter cleaning times, and savings in labour costs. Furthermore, where the time for the cleaning process is the governing factor between a shift end and a new shift start, the saving of time will enable a reduction in downtime and longer production runs. A summary of the benefits is given in table 1. The gels can be applied using either existing foam application equipment, with slight modifications, or simple, low maintenance, low cost venturi equipment – and in most cases, Dasic says that this can often be supplied at no cost.