The new concept of polished concrete floors is both modern and beautiful. This is best accomplished by wet grinding and polishing of the cement floor. The first step in the wet grinding and polishing process requires a significant amount of water and generates a slurry byproduct that can be costly in proper disposal. Surtec has a two-fold solution that not only reduces the disposable waste, but also provides a reusable water source, which saves more than 80 percent of the water normally needed to complete the job.
REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
The following is an example of the water and labor savings realized on an actual 125,000-square-foot floor in a retail facility that was completely polished using the Surtec Wet Polishing System, utilizing conventional automatic scrubbing equipment.
In this case, the wet concrete grinding and polishing process began with 200-grit diamonds and continued through 400, 800, and 1,500 grit diamonds. The amount of water typically required to wet grind and polish this square footage is calculated to be approximately 2,200 gallons. This relates to about ½ gallon of water (.44 gallons) per 100 square feet, times four stages (grits) of polishing. That would normally create approximately 2,200 gallons of slurry waste byproduct. The 2,200 gallons of slurry waste would have cost a minimum of $5,000 in proper disposal fees.
Utilizing Surtec’s Slurry Management separation process, the contractor was able to recycle and reuse the same water throughout the process, saving nearly 1,800 gallons of water on the jobsite. In today’s drought condition, this savings in water is huge.
Not only did the contractor save approximately 80 percent of the water that would normally be used, he was able to properly dispose of the residual water and solids by separating and drying the slurry residue.
HANDLING THE RESIDUE
Surtec’s Slurry.Sep is a natural product that, when stirred into the slurry waste byproduct, quickly separates the water from the solids, allowing clear, neutralized pH water to be pumped off for reuse. Not only does the process save tremendously on water use, it also greatly reduces the amount of waste that ultimately will need to be legally disposed of into a landfill.
The contractor was able to complete this process on the sales floor, where the work was taking place, without having to transport the equipment to a backroom. While this may sound trivial, it would have required an estimated 110 trips back and forth to the backroom, saving about 50 hours of labor by processing the slurry water on the sales floor.
At the end of the job, the contractor used Surtec’s Slurry.Dry to dry the remaining slurry solids preparing them for compliant disposal. By removing and reusing most of the water with Slurry.Sep before drying the remaining waste, the contractor managed to reduce the final slurry waste by more than 80 percent and quickly prepared it for legal landfill disposal.
The features and benefits of Surtec’s Slurry Management program include:
- Simple and safe product use
- Recycle and reuse water on the jobsite
- Reduce the overall water usage by approximately 80 percent
- Drastically reduce the amount of slurry waste disposal
Some of the advantages over the competition:
- Full factory-trained technical representative support
- Other slurry programs merely assist in drying the total amount of slurry
- Surtec’s program separates out most of the water from the slurry for reuse, greatly reducing the amount of actual slurry waste
- Competitively priced
ABOUT SURTEC
For more than 40 years, Surtec has specialized in the development, manufacture, and distribution of the latest technology in specialty maintenance chemicals for the commercial and industrial cleaning industry. In conjunction with these products, Surtec has also developed and markets specialized high-speed maintenance equipment, such as Surtec propane buffers with its patented “Acti-Vac” vacuum system. This active vacuuming system captures and contains up to 90 percent of the dust particles created by ultra high-speed buffing. Less dust in the air contributes to vastly cleaner indoor air quality. All of these products and programs are supported by Surtec’s factory-trained technical representatives.
Surtec offers a full line of chemical concrete products, including preparation chemicals, sealers, coatings, impregnators, guards, and maintenance products. Surtec also manufactures, distributes, and repairs concrete preparation and maintenance equipment, including automatic scrubbers, burnishers, wet-dry vacuums, pressure washers, and applicators.
Factory-trained technical representatives are available for consulting, product specification, on-site demonstrations, equipment selection, and troubleshooting. To protect your valuable investment, custom procedures and hands-on training can be provided for stain removal, etching, sealing, and maintenance of your concrete work. ■
EDITOR’S NOTE: Landfill disposal restrictions vary across regions. Reclamation, recycling, and reuse of wastewater must be done according to methods and requirements compliant with all local, state, and federal laws. Environmental laws require generators to characterize their wastes. Prior knowledge can be applied to certain wastes, where treatment, management, and disposal restrictions may apply. Additional regulations apply if the waste is hazardous. Always store, handle, use, treat, transport, and dispose of slurry separating products and resulting wastes in compliance with all applicable local, state, and federal laws.
For More Information: For more information on Surtec products, contact Mary Ann O’Neil at moneil@surtecsystem.com, call 800.877.6330, ext. 203, or visit www.surtecsystem.com.
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Modern Contractor Solutions, June 2015
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