I recently came across a commercial from the 1960s on YouTube for a product called Mr. Bubble. Some of you reading this will remember the cartoon image of the befuddled granny attempting to give “Hubert” a bubble bath and the tagline: “So clean, your mother won’t know you!”
I thought of that line when I sat down to write this article about sorbents. We have come to the point in sorbent technology where you can keep your facility so spotless, your own mother won’t believe that you are actually doing any work.
Knowing how to best use these products will save you money, improve sanitation and keep you on the right side of environmental laws.
Let me start by explaining what I mean by sorbent, because the term is still a little unfamiliar to people. A sorbent is something that soaks up unwanted material. The word has come into common usage because the traditional descriptors for cleanup products don’t really apprehend all the diverse and specialized products that are now available.
Sorbents come in a variety of forms. There are rolls designed to be spread out and driven over to provide an impermeable ground cover that will capture fluids while your crew takes apart a vehicle. There are hand-sized wipes. There are pillows, pans and booms that contain leaks in machinery that would otherwise pose a slip hazard. There are die-cut pads that precisely fit the top of a 55-gallon drum and work miracles just by sitting there. There are granules that you can shake over a spill and in minutes be able to sweep it away without a trace.
Types of Sorbents.
Sorbents are manufactured in three basic types: Oil Only (white), Universal (grey), and Hazmat (yellow). Our discussion won’t get into the Hazmat category as it does not have much application in the auto disassembly field.
Oil Only repels non-petroleum liquids but absorbs oily drips, spills and puddles. It saw a lot of action in the Gulf of Mexico last summer containing the BP oil spill and works very well in outdoor applications as it will not get waterlogged.
Universal does not discriminate between liquids and will absorb anything from oil to Dr. Pepper to windshield washer fluid or rain.It is not very useful in an unsheltered situation for obvious reasons.
These designations are just part one of the sorbent matrix; you can get grey or white sorbents in all of the pads, rolls and pillows that I mentioned above.
Materials and Finishes
Are you with me so far? Because there are a few more components to sorbents that you may have to deal with and they make a difference in containing costs. The first is the construction material of the sorbent pad.
The manufacturer of the product lines we offer makes at least four different formulations of materials that appeal to different users. There are sorbents made from petroleum, and there are sorbents made from recycled products, and on and on. The petroleum based products have great performance, but the price dances around in rhythm to the cost of a barrel of oil. To keep it simple, my company recommends a material called ColdForm2™ which features the best combination of performance, earth-friendliness, and low cost volatility of all the materials out there. You can get ColdForm2 in grey or white, in any of the forms listed above and in a variety of finishes.
Ah, yes. Finishes. The last parameter of sorbents is how the surfaces of a roll or pad are treated. From least expensive to most expensive, finishes are graded as follows: bonded, laminated one side, laminated both sides, poly-backed bonded, poly-backed laminated, and fine fiber.
For auto recyclers, the most useful of these finishes are the bonded and the laminated. The difference between the two is the laminated is tear- and scuff-resistant to the degree that it can be driven over without damage. The ability to absorb fluids is the same in both cases. The poly-backed, as mentioned before, is a slip-resistant, impervious barrier that will not permit transfer of oil or other fluids through it. Without the poly backing, a saturated sorbent pad can leave behind a small amount of fluid.
With the proper selection of these products (preceded by an aggressive spring cleaning, perhaps?), it is now possible to keep your facility as spotless as the fancy auto dealer’s service department. The payoff is freedom from environmental citations, increased employee morale, and reduced injuries.
