27.04.23

The development of an innovation in cleaning: Granuline

Overdosing consumes billions of dollars in costs each year in the cleaning industry. That's why Wetrok set itself the following goal: to develop a cleaning agent that cannot be overdosed. Years of research went into developing a new form of cleaning agent. The result: granules - packaged in individual portions.

The core of modern cleaning

Modern cleaning is not an isolated activity, but a holistic process. In the past, there was only one requirement for a cleaning agent: it must clean. Today, the requirements are much more complex: customers are interested in how easy it is to use the product, how safe it is for staff, how it is transported, and what impact it has on the environment. They want to take responsibility for their employees and the environment. With Granuline, they have found a solution to meet all these requirements better than any liquid detergent.

The development of Granuline

At the beginning of a product development there is always a customer problem. In this case, probably the biggest problem in the industry was tackled: overdosing. The goal was to develop a product in which cleaners are completely relieved of the dosing task. In other words, no manual dosing action, no dosing system. The cause of overdosing lies not only in the widespread misconception that “the more agent, the cleaner”, but often also in modest knowledge of mathematics. Many cleaners have great difficulty calculating when dosing. For example, if the task is to add 5% of a cleaning agent to a liter, some cleaners are already unsure whether the cleaning agent should be 5% of the liter or whether they have to add the 5% to the liter. With Granuline, such preparatory work or stumbling blocks are now completely eliminated.

Wetrok Granuline includes five granule cleaners for ecological cleaning of the entire building:

• GRANUSURF (surface cleaner)
• GRANUSAN (sanitary maintenance cleaner)
• GRANUSAN FORTE (sanitary basic cleaner)
• GRANUBOWL (toilet cleaner)
• GRANUFLOOR (floor maintenance cleaner)

The right form 

At first glance, powder or a tablet in a dissolvable film seems obvious – after all, this is already well known from machine dishwashing or textile washing. There, however, hot water, a certain soaking time and an automatic washing program support the dissolving process. These supporting factors are not available in building cleaning: the cleaning essence must be ready for use immediately without a reaction time, without agitation and with cold water. In this regard, tests with powder or a powder-pressed tablet showed either insufficient dissolution or too long a dissolution time. Important lesson: what does not dissolve completely does not clean optimally.

The synergy of innovative technology and highly effective raw materials (patent)

After intensive research, we came across an analogy in another industry. In tunnel construction, polymers are used in the walls. These wrap around the stones and release certain particles that are not wanted at this point. These particles are then held in suspension. If this works with the release of unwelcome particles in tunnel construction, why not with the dirt to be removed? The process is called electrosteric stabilization and is a combination of steric and electrostatic stabilization.

Electrosteric stabilization is about the ionic “character” of the compound chains: one end leads to the grain, one end to the water. Thus, only compound ends with the same ionic charge (positive in the figure) protrude into the water – these repel each other. This repulsion keeps the dirt in suspension for a while and prevents it from sinking back to the bottom. This benefits the cleaning process. The interaction of charge and chain length results in raw materials called antiredeposition agents.

In addition to the electrosteric effect, a special raw material has been added to the granules, which further enhances the cleaning performance, because thanks to this not only emulsifiable, but also the smallest dirt particles (e.g., fine dust) can be dissolved in hard-to-reach places. The special raw material extremely reduces the surface tension and enables the cleaning liquor to penetrate even the smallest cracks and fissures. This time-to-value, measured using tensiometric analysis, is unique to date – and it is precisely this technological leap that was honored by the award of a patent for Wetrok Granuline.

Environmental aspects of granulins

The environmental advantage of granulins lies in their form: Granules. In fact, the main problem with transportation is that far too much – totally unnecessary – water is transported worldwide, namely the water in liquid detergents. The granules eliminate the water and only the core active ingredient for cleaning, the granules, are transported. Instead of six trucks of liquid chemicals, only one truck of granules is needed. There is also no need to bring back empty containers. What a huge impact on costs and CO₂ emissions! During the use phase, this means a reduction of around 75 percent!

The calculation of emissions from Granuline (cradle-to-grave method) also showed a 19% reduction in emissions in a direct comparison of Granuline to liquid detergent concentrates (ClimatePartner confirmed this). Raw materials, production, inbound and outbound logistics, as well as packaging, disposal and community emissions were taken into account. This was rewarded with the “climate-neutral product” label from ClimatePartner. Further efforts to reduce emissions even more are already being implemented. Emissions that cannot be reduced further are offset by a recognized climate project.

Since there is no water in the product, preservation can be dispensed with 100%. This is a pioneering contribution to environmental and water protection. Today, it is not known how many tons of liquid detergent are thrown away worldwide after use with the biocide content intact.

The resource water is additionally conserved by the manual foam cleaning method. Compared to the conventional bucket-cloth method, an additional 90% of water is saved. Sustainable product and sustainable method go hand in hand.

The 7 environmental advantages of Wetrok Granuline:

• climate-neutral
• very well biodegradable according to OECD 302 b.
• not preserved
• VOC-free
• 90 % lower water consumption (when used with the foam method)
• 19 % lower CO₂ emissions (compare with liquid cleaner)
• no overdosing possible (pre-dosed bags).

Health aspects of Granuline

There is no longer any need to heave 10-liter canisters onto storage shelves or laboriously lug them around the facility, just lightweight granule stick. And because the stick is perforated and easy to open, there is no risk of skin contact with the granules – even if you forget to wear gloves without permission.  There are also no solvents, which many liquid cleaning agents contain, in the granulate – so there are no health-endangering vapors to enter the respiratory tract.

Conclusion

Granuline meets all the important requirements of a modern cleaning agent in terms of climate protection, high cleaning quality and safe processes.

Learn more about Wetrok Granuline: www.granuline.com