Product Description
SpillSponge Econo Loose Granular Floor Sweep (1 x 5kg/Bag)

Features

• 100% safe, natural material from the earth. Inert, lightweight, highly porous, super absorbent material.
• Extremely fast clean-up.
• Screened and Dedusted.
• Strong, robust particles will not break-down when exposed to aqueous and other solutions.
• 100% Australian Made
• Will not turn to mud and leave messy film on surface. This also eliminates slippery mud being dispersed by foot and vehicular traffic.
• Passes the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure TCLP Method 1311 and the Paint Filter Liquids Test Method 9095 for hydrocarbons C10-C36, (kerosene, diesel, lubricating oils) i.e no detectable leachates, contaminants naturally immobilised.
• Contains no detectable crystalline silica. In particular no quartz, cristobalite or tridymite were detectable, even after heating to 7500c, at XRD detection limits of around 0.1%. (Amdel Limited, Nata Accredited analytical laboratory, REPORT 6A05424).
• Contains no fibrous, needle-like minerals that could potentially cause mesothelioma (lung cancer) like asbestos. Don’t take the risk exposing end-users and your assets to products that contain needle-like minerals, eliminate the hazards.
  

The test results established that Spill Control SpillSponge Econo Floor Sweep has the same recommended exposure level (classified by the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission) as that for general, low toxicity dust i.e. 10mg/m3. This is described as non-hazardous dust. Therefore there would be no risk to health with respect to respirable quartz as a result of emptying the contents of the bag on a spill or from clean-up procedures.

Disposal
Used Spill control SpillSponge Econo Floor Sweep, containing no free liquid, that has absorbed Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons C10 – C36  (kerosene, diesel, lubricating oils) has been classified by the EPA as immobilised solid waste suitable for Solid Waste Landfills Class 2.  These landfills are essentially the Local Tip.  They differ from Class 1 Landfills through the exclusion of putrescible (organic) waste (generates a more aggressive leachate).
 
What is (SpillSponge Econo Floor Sweep) Diatomite?
Diatomite is a lightweight, white sedimentary rock formed by the accumulation of the highly porous microscopic remains of aquatic, single-celled, photosynthesing phytoplankton (algae) that lived in lakes and rivers. It mineralogy comprises: Opal-A (diatom frustules) and clays. Charles Darwin wrote in 1872 “Few objects are more beautiful than the minute siliceous cases of the Diatomaceae”. Diatoms are vital to humankind as they make up a quarter of the earth’s plant life and they produce at least a quarter of the oxygen we breathe.
 
Why Diatomite Is Super Absorbent
Each granule contains millions of microscopic, hollow, perforated cylindrical shells, that were produced by the ancient Diatoms (refer to SEM photos), resulting in an inert, lightweight, highly porous, super absorbent material. Diatomite does not break down and become slippery when wet like other absorbent materials. 25 million Diatoms would fit in teaspoon.
 
 
The skeletal remains are called frustules and they are composed of silica (opaline) the diatoms extracted from water. Refer to the scanning electron micrographs depicting diatom frustules. The frustules look like hair curlers, they have a hollow cylindrical morphology, further the cylinder is perforated by hundred regularly spaced holes. Millions of these frustules packed together in a rock result in an extremely lightweight, highly porous material that can absorb fluids.
 Diatoms are still alive today and you would be surprised to known that a glass of tap water may contain fragments of frustules.