RX Products The Perfect Prescription for Reclaim

For many operators in today's carwash environment, the need to reclaim or recycle a large percentage of their carwash water has become either a compliance issue or an economic reality. There are many viable water reclamation systems available today to the commercial carwash industry. The majority of these system treat the water in two ways: filtration and defouling of odors caused by either the release of sulfur or through bacterial growth.

Additionally, many systems include a spot-free rinse produced either by reverse osmosis or deionization. In many cases, this introduction of fresh water can provide the 10% makeup needed in closed loop systems.

Water filtration is a very simple and proven commercial process that has been used in a variety of industries for decades. For the carwash industry, it is ideal for removing undissolved solids such as soil and dirt. However, its limitation is that is does not remove surfactants, road oils and other "dissolved" solids. Some more sophisticated systems attempt to remove these "undissolved solids" through chemical processes such as adsorption, nucleation, and coagulation. However, these systems have not been proven to be commercially practical for the carwash industry.

Deodorizing reclaim pits is accomplished by a variety of methods. Some of these methods include chlorination, ozonation, high voltage DC electrolysis, proprietary polishing systems, etc., etc. The goal of these systems is to kill bacteria and microorganisms that fester and produce a variety of malodors.

Up until now, however, most water reclamation companies have not addresses the need for reclaim systems to be chemically compatible. Rather, with the very best of intentions, they have sought to find products that were compatible with their equipment as opposed to being synergistic and functional as a system. Therefore, they have accomplished this compatibility by "dialing down" (using as little as possible) all the chemicals that are necessary to clean, dry and shine a vehicle. This practice oftentimes produces lesser quality results with little or no "show" for the operator's carwash customer.

Introducing... RX products the first totally compatible reclaim chemistry that balances the surfactant chemistry and the pH issues to optimize and reclaim system. RX Products are pH balanced. A perfect reclaim system is one that maintains a pH level between 5 and 7. Systems that maintain a high pH level provide poor rinsing and create and environment that acts as a breeding ground for bacteria and microorganisms. Bacteria flourishes in an alkaline environment. RX products recognize this and work to produce a low pH environment. Most bacteria cannot live in an acidic environment and, therefore, maintaining a system with a pH of 7 or below provides better rinsing and reduces the chance of bacterial growth.

RX products are surfactant compatible. Together they create a strongly cationic system. There are no anionic surfactants present. They are a blend of totally cationic surfactants with no anionic or oil emulsifying nonyl phenol type nonionic surfactants. This cationic system defoams better, is completely compatible with drying agents and sealers, contains no source of a sulfonic or sulfonate group which is a source of sulfur that, when broken down, causes a "rotten egg" odor.

RX products create a surfactant balanced system which contain "cationic splitters" that quickly emulsify and then release road oils in the reclaim pit so they float to the surface (oils being lighter than water). Since most reclaim systems draw from the mid-level of the reclaim pit, this allows you to wash and rinse with an oil free system.

RX products are phosphate-free. Phosphates, as they do in fertilizers, allow organisms to grow, especially algae. Phosphates are however great sequestrants which are vital in reclaim systems. Therefore, all RX products contain sequestrants in the form of organic acids which counteract the minerals found un reclaim water.

RX Products meet all of the new California VOC requirements that are being adopted by many states. Additionally, they contain no butyl solvents. Such solvents, although terrific oil emulsifiers, don't release the oil in the pit and tend to keep road oils in solution. This isn't a good thing!

RX dying agents, sealers and triple foam products are all "oil free" and contain no mineral seal oil, which can oftentimes fouls a system, as well, as, leave an oily film on equipment, cloth, walls, etc. they also do not contain any reactive silicones and the dyes used in the triple foam products are non-florescence and 100% biodegradable. The importance of this is that over time, these dyes will break down in the pit and dissipate...as opposed to a continuous build-up.