Method and composition

Abstract

A method for removing grease, oil or fat from a floor comprises applying expanded perlite particles in dry form to the floor and brushing said perlite across the affected area to strip or scour the grease, oil or fat, without applying water. The particle size of the perlite may be small, for example it may be the case that at least 90% by weight of the perlite has a particle size of less than 700 microns or less than 200 microns.

Claims

1. A method for removing grease, oil or fat from a floor, comprising: applying expanded perlite particles in dry form to the floor; brushing the expanded perlite particles across an affected area to strip or scour grease, oil or fat from the floor, without applying water, wherein the expanded perlite particles remove grease, oil or fat from the floor; and removing the expanded perlite particles from the floor, wherein at least 50% by weight of the expanded perlite particles have a particle size of up to 700 microns.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the expanded perlite particles are not applied to all of the affected area, but the expanded perlite particles are brushed across the entire affected area.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein 1 g to 50 g of the expanded perlite particles are applied per m.sup.2 of affected area.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least 90% by weight of the expanded perlite particles have a particle size of less than 200 microns.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the expanded perlite particles are not coated with any other material.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the expanded perlite particles are part of a composition, and wherein at least 90% by weight of the composition comprises the expanded perlite particles.

7. A method for removing grease, oil or fat from a floor, comprising: applying a composition in dry form to the floor; brushing the composition across an affected area to strip or scour grease, oil or fat from the floor, without applying water, wherein the composition removes grease, oil or fat from the floor; and removing the composition from the floor, wherein at least 90% by weight of the composition is expanded perlite particles.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the expanded perlite particles are not applied to all of the affected area, but the expanded perlite particles are brushed across the entire affected area.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein 1 g to 50 g of the expanded perlite particles are applied per m.sup.2 of affected area.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein at least 90% by weight of the expanded perlite particles have a particle size of less than 200 microns.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the expanded perlite particles are not coated with any other material.

Description

FIGURE AND EXAMPLES

(1) The invention will now be described in further non-limiting detail with reference to the following Examples and FIGURE in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a Slip Test graph with example readings from a greasy/oily kitchen floor during operation and cleaning procedures (both comparative and in accordance with the present invention).

Example 1

(3) One of the main disadvantages of current methods for cleaning greasy kitchen floors is the lack of relief from the risks of slips during busy periods. If one looks at kitchens dependent on heavy use of deep fat fryers for the production of a wide menu of fried foods, during intensive service periods it is virtually impossible to regain a safe floor, particularly around the deep fat fryer stations which are often eight or more units long. The small droplets of hot fat that fall from the frying baskets get walked into the floors, eventually across the whole kitchen and even into the restaurant area, thereby presenting a slip risk to both kitchen staff and customers.

(4) Various tests are available for quantifying the slipperiness of floors. The UK Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) commonly uses a test known as the Pendulum skid resistance test. This models the interaction between pedestrian heel and floor during normal pedestrian gait.

(5) Other tests include roller coaster type tests: these use a ramp to bring a slider into contact with the floor. One of these is the SlipAlert test, provided by SlipAlert LLP (Hertfordshire, UK, www.slipalert.com).

(6) The SlipAlert test uses a SlipAlert instrument which is a gravity-powered trolley which rolls down a ramp before making contact with a floor surface under examination. The SlipAlert test is chosen here because of its ease of use and speed, and compactness and portability of the apparatus. The distance travelled by the trolley indicates the slipperiness of the floor and can be correlated to coefficient of friction values or Pendulum test values.

(7) With reference to FIG. 1, performance according to a SlipAlert test is shown. This test is recognised by the UK Health & Safety Executiive (HSE) as a means of indicating slip risk on commercial floors. UK HSE equivalent Pendulum test values and coefficients of friction are shown. The top-left shaded box (dotted) indicates the green zone (low risk of slip). The middle shaded box (lightly hatched) indicates the amber or orange zone (medium risk). The bottom-right shaded box (heavily hatched) indicates the red zone (high risk). Results corresponding to three different scenarios are shown.

(8) We have observed in a series of slip test data studies in operating kitchens that the floor surrounding a deep fat fryer station is often in the HSE Red Zone (high risk for slips), and during cleaning with a traditional method of mop, bucket, water and degreaser is only brought to within the later levels of the Orange Zone (considered by the HSE as an advisory level where actions need to be taken to remedy the situation) if allowed to dry without further droplets of oil affecting the area for 10 minutes prior to which the slip risk increases immediately after mopping into the higher and almost maximum end of the Red Zone. However, as soon as the Orange Zone reading is achieved more droplets of oil from the fat fryer baskets fall to the floor and increase the slip risk back to the Red Zone. At no point do these floors ever enter the safe Green Zone. In contrast, the present invention allows very effective results in the Green Zone.

(9) The result shown (a value of less than 130, thereby within the green zone, i.e. denoting a low risk of slip) was obtained when using 500 ml of expanded perlite to strip walked in cooking oil from approximately 8 square meters of floor area immediately in the deep-fat fryer station area by pouring the powder at one end and brushing it down the affected floor area and back again once within a 1 minute period. The test was carried out in two different kitchens. In kitchen 1, SlipAlert readings of 124, 132 and 131 were obtained, giving an average of 129. In kitchen 2, SlipAlert readings of 129, 118 and 140 were obtained, again giving an average of 129, both average readings bringing the floor into the aforementioned safe Green Zone.

Example 2

(10) In terms of man-hours spent, effectiveness and costs, the present invention is beneficial compared to traditional methods.

(11) Traditional methods of cleaning a greasy kitchen floor can take on average twenty times longer than the invention. They can increase the slipperiness of the floor momentarily, but also rarely finish with a dry and safe floor during operating hours, thus proving ineffective.

(12) The invention can reduce the clean time significantly to between 1/10.sup.th and 1/20.sup.th of the time required by normal methods and produces a relatively dry and safe floor, offering immediate improvement without the environmental and treatment costs associated with known methods (such as putting degreasing chemicals or surfactants in the waste water system and ultimately waterways and disposing of polymer and nylon mop heads and plastics in landfill sites).

(13) The cost and material benefits of using the invention over traditional methods have been proven through testing carried out by the inventor. The primary cost saving is man-hours used in cleaning and degreasing floors. Using an average UK man-hour cost set at minimum wage of 7.64 (including employers' national insurance) the average current practice of cleaning of a greasy floor over an eight meter square floor area as described above takes 20 minutes and represents a cost of 2.54 and more often than not still leaves a slippery floor that would not be deemed as safe under tests as previously described. Whereas, if the same floor is cleaned using expanded perlite as detailed in accordance with the invention the floor is brought to a reasonably dry and safe status in between 1 and 2 minutes, representing a man-hour cost of between 12.7 p and 25.4 p. The materials cost differential is a complex matter which for accuracy would require assessment of cost of the use of water and detergents for each clean as well as a calculation of the fractional cost for each clean as a division of the maximum life span in terms of usage of polymer mop heads, any dry mop heads used and plastic buckets, as well as the cost of the environmental impact of these materials. The assessment of these material costs made by the inventor has led the inventor to estimate that the overall cost of the use of expanded perlite is cheaper than that of the materials used in conventional cleaning methods.