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Electrolyzed or Electrically Activated Water (EAW) products recently introduced to the market are emerging as alternatives to cleaning with chemicals. Hand-held sprayers and integrated floor scrubbers utilizing built-in electrolysis technology are now available and promising to change the way we approach green cleaning. The portable sprayers are available for both home and commercial use, while the scrubbing machines are mainly for commercial buildings.
With EAW, a small electrical charge is passed through tap water in an onboard chamber, producing an ionized solution with negative and positive charges. These charges carried by nanobubbles cause dirt particles to become charged and repel from surfaces for removal.
Through another process, known scientifically as electroporation, the electrical field produced during spraying punches holes in the cell membranes of bacteria and viruses, killing them.
The newest hand-held sprayers have been tested and demonstrated to kill H1N1, and also qualify as sanitizing devices under EPA rules.
Hand-held EAW devices can be used effectively for cleaning and sanitizing stone, marble, plastic, stainless steel, glass and many other hard or resilient surfaces; they can also function as carpet spotters. Automatic scrubbers for commercial applications use EAW as a substitute for detergents when used on hard or resilient floors.
When it comes to performance, EAW works well for general or all-purpose cleaning, but is not intended as a replacement for heavy-duty industrial cleaners, degreasers or strippers. That said, independent tests conducted over three months in the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn., showed that when identical walk-behind scrubbing machines were used on the same floor surface, the machine using EAW matched or surpassed the cleaning performance of a standard detergent-based system.
Financially speaking, an activated water sprayer that replaces hundreds of bottles of pricey chemical sprays would more than pay for itself over time. An EAW-equipped automatic scrubber used on 50,000 square feet, 7 days a week will save approximately $1,500 on detergent while eliminating the need to purchase, store, handle and dispense the same.
Combine the health benefits and performance to the financial savings associated with buying and using fewer chemicals, and the case for EAW-based cleaning systems becomes all the more compelling.
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