The amount of waste generated by the average person has tripled since 1960 in America, which has the highest amount of waste generated per person of any country, at an average of 4.6 pounds per day. In fact, only around 1/10 of solid garbage in the United States is recycled each year. Believe it or not, this statistic has improved over years past, but we still have a long way to go.

Recycling helps alleviate this issue the most, of course, but there are other things that can be done to keep solid objects out of landfills. One of these has to do with what to do with items after a fire or flood. In the past, insurance companies and homeowners would try to restore sentimental items from a fire or flood-damaged home, but would choose to toss the remainder of soot- and mold-covered items in the garbage, meaning that after a major event such as the California wildfires or the floods following a hurricane like Harvey, you would likely see a huge influx of household items entering local landfills. In fact, that’s exactly what happened after Hurricane Harvey.

It’s clear to see that this trend is insupportable in the long run. So, what’s the answer?

Refurbish, not throw away

When household items get damaged in a fire or flooding, it can seem like there is no recourse but to toss them out into the nearest dumpster. Soot or mold damage can seem intractable and impossible to remove. But there is a way to choose to refurbish these items instead of throwing them away. Refurbishing is a choice that keeps items out of landfills and saves both money and time. Cleaning and restoring items by hand might take many hours of hard work, with less than satisfactory results in many cases. Yet there is another way that involves a cutting-edge cleaning technology: ultrasonic cleaning.

Ultrasonic cleaning to the rescue

Ultrasonic cleaning uses the power of high-frequency sound to clean objects. When these sound waves pass through a liquid medium and strike against an object immersed in that liquid, they produce millions of microscopic bubbles. These bubbles collapse almost as soon as they’re formed through a physical phenomenon known as cavitation, releasing tiny but intense jets of energy when they do. These energy bursts dislodge grime and contaminants from every surface of an object, and in combination with a detergent solution, form a powerful cleaning force unlike any other. Not only is ultrasonic cleaning thorough and powerful, but also gentle, which means it can often even clean Grandma’s china without damaging it.

The bottom line: ultrasonic cleaning allows restoration companies to work in tandem with homeowners and insurance companies to clean damaged items after a disaster, restoring them to the condition they were in before the disaster, and sometimes even better. Ultrasonic cleaning creates a win-win scenario for everyone—the homeowner gets their original items back and don’t have to spend time replacing them, the insurance company doesn’t have to write a bigger check to replace all damaged items, and the rest of us will be thankful that the many items will not have to go to landfills, helping keep the earth greener than it was before.

Want to know more about how ultrasonic cleaners can assist you with refurbishing damaged items rather than throwing them away? Call one of our ultrasonic experts at Omegasonics at 888-989-5560 or email us at Omegasonics@Omegasonics.com. You can also get in touch with us by filling out our online contact form.

Solvent-based cleaning is going the way of the dinosaurs

For decades, harsh chemical solvents have been the traditional way to clean tough industrial grime. However, the Montreal Protocol of 1987 began the trend of either outlawing the most harmful solvents outright or limiting their use, due to toxicity to workers and the environment. These days, solvents are sometimes applied via spray cans to limit their application. As they are applied directly to the part being cleaned, however, much of the spray atomizes into the air or drops to the ground. While slightly better than older methods, this still creates an airborne hazard for workers and pollutes the environment. What if there were a better, less costly, and greener solution? Fortunately, there is: ultrasonic cleaning.

Ultrasonic Cleaning: The Environmentally-Friendly Way to Clean

The detergents used in ultrasonic cleaning systems are generally nontoxic, biodegradable, and meet all state and federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines. Ultrasonic cleaners typically do not use harmful chemical solvents, depending instead on a combination of ultrasonic power, plus water and detergents similar to those we find at home.

Of course, discarded water-based detergents must still be treated, since usually the industrial parts being cleaned will inject hazardous oils and chemicals into the wastewater. However, when it comes to treating wastewater from ultrasonic cleaning, companies have many more options than they would with solvents. For example, wastewater recycling can be accomplished through flocculation treatment processes that extract the harmful waste while retaining water to be returned to the environment. Water can be passively evaporated or boiled off, leaving only sludge.

One common objection to using water-based detergents is that they aren’t inherently as powerful as solvents for many types of cleaning. Though modern detergent formulas have become quite specialized and powerful, additional help is still usually needed. This is where the power of ultrasonic cleaning comes in.

Ultrasonic Cleaning Plus Detergents – a Powerful Combo

Water-based soaps need some type of mechanical help to overcome their lack of inherent solvency. When an ultrasonic cleaner is turned on, and the ultrasonic sound waves start moving through the liquid, they create millions of microscopic cavitating bubbles, which collapse and produce powerful jets of force against the object being cleaned. One huge plus: for items large or small requiring precision cleaning in threaded areas or inside tubes or blind holes, ultrasound is far superior to any type of solvent.

Omegasonics Offers Solvent-Free Ultrasonic Cleaning Detergents

Here is a small list of the types of detergents available from Omegasonics:

• OmegaClean – Our most versatile ultrasonic cleaning soap. This cleaning agent removes oil, grease, carbon, and contaminants from a variety of metals. It contains buffers to protect aluminum finishes and silicates to guard against flash rusting.
• OmegaSupreme – A detergent perfect for removing oils, light grease, dirt, grime, carbon and other contaminants from a wide variety of materials, including stainless steel, titanium, carbon steel, and plastics.
• CitriSurf® 2050 – An ultrasonic cleaner passivator, specifically formulated to passivate a limited variety of stainless steel grade surfaces without the use of nitric acid.
• CitriSurf® 2210 – An environmentally-friendly ultrasonic cleaner soap designed to passivate large stainless steel surfaces that cannot be immersed into a heated ultrasonic bath.
• CitriSurf® 2250 – An ultrasonic cleaning passivator that has been specifically formulated to passivate all grades of stainless steel and titanium surfaces without the use of nitric acid. It also removes calcium carbonate from brass, steel, and nickel.
• Omega Horn Clean 727 – A phosphoric-based cleaning solution ideal for cleaning a variety of brass musical instruments.

To see more, check out our full array of ultrasonic detergent soaps and solutions available.

Go Green with our Team of Ultrasonic Cleaning Experts!

Trying to make your industrial cleaning operation more environmentally friendly? Want to know more about ultrasonic cleaning or our line of solvent-free detergents? Contact our experts at Omegasonics at 888-989-5560 or by emailing us at Omegasonics@Omegasonics.com, or by filling out our online contact form. We look forward to hearing from you!

Gentler Ultrasonic Cleaning Detergents

Ultrasonic cleaning detergents are typically much less harsh than those used for traditional cleaning methods. The ultrasound waves and resulting army of tiny bubbles that differentiate ultrasonic cleaning do a lot of the work on a scope and scale that just can’t be achieved with a scrub brush or solvent circulation.  As a result, water-based cleaning soaps are sufficient to get the job done with ultrasonic parts washers.

Zero Emissions

Spray cleaning, vapor degreasing, and manual cleaning create great risk of exposing workers to highly caustic chlorinated and fluoridated agents and hydrocarbons. All of these pose health risks to those performing the cleaning, but also can harm the atmosphere. Ultrasonic cleaning occurs in a contained tank environment where there is significantly less risk to workers.

Energy Efficiency

Other forms of immersion cleaning use considerably more energy than ultrasonic cleaning. Heating elements and circulation pumps pull much more energy than ultrasonic transducers. Less energy use means less pollution.

It’s worth noting that most ultrasonic cleaning detergents are approved by the EPA… and, as you know, that governmental agency can be really hard to please.

Have questions about ultrasonic cleaning or what kind of ultrasonic cleaner would best fit your needs? Contact our team of ultrasonic cleaning experts today at (888) 989-6278.

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Ultrasonic cleaners are environmentally friendly because they use safe detergents, reduce the amount of power consumed for the same amount of cleaning, are non-polluting, and don’t emit toxic vapors in the process.

The Environmentally Friendly Cleaner

The chemicals used in ultrasonic cleaning systems are mostly nontoxic, biodegradable, and meet all state and federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines. Many other systems used for washing parts rely on the use of organic solvents, harsh chemicals, or hazardous materials to clean components.

Those solvents can be harmful to life and have a detrimental impact on the environment during both manufacture and use. They usually vaporize into toxic fumes that escape into the atmosphere, in some cases generating greenhouse gasses. Ultrasonic cleaners use no such chemicals, relying instead on water and detergents similar to those we find at home.

Ultrasonic cleaning systems are also environmentally friendly because they use less energy overall than other types of parts cleaning systems. Ultrasonic cleaners run entirely on electricity, which is getting greener all the time thanks to international initiatives like the Kyoto Protocol and federal regulations such as the EPA’s Boiler Maximum Achievable Control Technology and Climate Action Plan standards.

There are no high-horsepower pumps sucking up electricity like there are with other parts cleaning systems. And because they clean parts so quickly compared to other methods, they use less power overall to achieve the same results.

Ultrasonic cleaning is a green process from beginning to end. The cleaning solutions are safe for the environment, biodegradable, and nontoxic. They use much less power than other parts cleaning systems that get less-effective results. Businesses and entire industries are moving to ultrasonic cleaners to limit their ecological footprint.

Contact us for more information on ultrasonic cleaners. You can also find us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Many cleaning solvents such as carburetor cleaner, brake cleaner, MEK or petroleum-based solvents have been outlawed due to their detrimental effects on people and the environment. Many still remaining are toxic to a lesser degree.

Using water-based soaps may not always give you the same cleaning power as the old solvents. They need some type of mechanical help such as ultrasound. High-frequency ultrasonic scrubbing action combined with the proper solution, a water-based cleaning soap, provides a faster, safer, more thorough result than solvents could ever deliver.

Ultrasonic Cleaning is:

1.  Safer for you and your employees
2.  More forgiving to the environment
3.  More automatic, thorough and consistent than manual cleaning
4.  An eliminator of expensive,  time consuming labor
5.  More cost effective for cleaning precision parts and can give you a competitive advantage in today’s global economy. Here are a few examples:
   • Cleaning Aerospace Parts with Ultrasonic Cleaners
   • Snowmobile Engine Cleaning with Ultrasonics
   • 3D Spinal Implants and Ultrasonic Cleaning
   • Clean Your Firearms 3 Times Faster with Ultrasonic Gun Cleaning
   • Using Ultrasonics for Cleaning Truck Fuel Injectors
   • Ultrasonic Cleaning for Dentures
   • Using Ultrasonic Cleaning Technology for Food Plants
   • Clean Your Musical Instruments with Ultrasonic Cleaning
   • Ultrasonic Cleaning for Pharmaceutical Equipment
   • … and many more found on our blog!

In a nutshell, ultrasonic cleaning is better for your workers, the environment, and your wallet.

Our Solvent-Free Ultrasonic Cleaning Solutions

All of our ultrasonic cleaning solutions are solvent free. With a wide range available, you can rest assured that there is a perfect one for your application. Here is a small glimpse of the types of solutions available:

OmegaClean – Our most versatile ultrasonic cleaning soap. This cleaning agent removes oil, grease, carbon, and contaminants from a variety of metals. Contains buffers to protect aluminum finishes and silicates to guard against flash rusting.
Safety Data Sheet (SDS)

OmegaMaxx – Our most powerful ultrasonic cleaner degreaser. It is excellent for cleaning and brightening ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Not recommended for copper, brass or aluminum.
Safety Data Sheet (SDS)

OmegaSupreme – A detergent perfect for removing oils, light grease, dirt, grime, carbon and other contaminants from a wide variety of materials, including stainless steel, titanium, carbon steel, and plastics.
Safety Data Sheet (SDS)

CitriSurf® 2050 – An ultrasonic cleaner passivator, specifically formulated to passivate a limited variety (as compared to CitriSurf 2250) of stainless steel grade surfaces without the use of nitric acid.
Safety Data Sheet (SDS)

CitriSurf® 2210 – An environmentally-friendly ultrasonic cleaner soap designed to passivate large stainless steel surfaces that cannot be immersed into a heated ultrasonic bath
Safety Data Sheet (SDS)

CitriSurf® 2250 – An ultrasonic cleaning passivator has been specifically formulated to passivate (remove free iron molecules) all grades of stainless steel and titanium surfaces without the use of nitric acid. Also removes calcium carbonate from brass, steel and nickel.
Safety Data Sheet (SDS)

Omega Horn Clean 727 – A phosphoric-based cleaning solution ideal for cleaning a variety of brass musical instruments.
Safety Data Sheet (SDS)

To see the full list of ultrasonic cleaning solutions available, visit the soaps & solutions page.

Contact our Team of Ultrasonic Cleaning Experts

Trying to find the best ultrasonic cleaning solution for your application or have other questions regarding ultrasonic cleaning? Contact our experts at Omegasonics by calling 888-989-5560, emailing us at Omegasonics@Omegasonics.com, or by filling out our online contact form.