Desalination

Desalination &
Cleaning

Salt reduction in mineral building materials

In order to successfully protect heavily contaminated buildings in the long term, in addition to preventing the ingress of moisture, measures must also be taken to combat or reduce the salts that are harmful to the building. The application of desalination compresses has proven itself as a physical desalination method.

Desalination’ refers to the significant reduction of the content of building-damaging salts in porous building materials. In addition to the application of sacrificial plasters, compress plasters or restoration plasters, the application of desalination compresses is a method that has been used for many years in the preservation of historical monuments and is tried and proven with appropriate experience.

Desalination compress
By applying a moist compress to the surface of a component, salts that are harmful to building materials dissociate into their components: anions and cations. Two processes are then set in motion:
A diffusion movement of the salts from the building material into the compress begins.
The evaporation zone of the moisture in the building component is shifted to the outside, into the compress.
In both cases, salts dissolved in the water are transported out of the wall material and into the compress, so that the new evaporation zone outside the cross-section of the building component leads to salt accumulation.
The compresses have no function in terms of surface design and protection of the masonry. The application is temporary, non-destructive and reversible.
Product solution

The Remmers desalination compress has been optimised with regard to its adsorption capacity for typical building-damaging salts in the course of numerous building applications. Of particular importance here is the replacement of quartz sand with highly absorbent lightweight aggregates.

Gentle cleaning

Dirt is usually no protection

Due to its large inner surface, a dirt layer is an excellent absorber of moisture and gaseous and particulate pollutants. These usually react underneath the crust and accelerate the destruction, even if this initially remains invisible under the crust. There are therefore the following technical and aesthetic reasons for cleaning.

Elimination of risk factors such as salt accumulation and delaying the drying speed
Preparation of the substrate for further conservation measures by restoring capillary absorbency
Removal of visually disturbing soiling

Mechanical cleaning

With the proven Remmers rotec vortex blasting technology, the blasting particles do not hit the building material surface vertically due to the rotation of the mixture of air, water and blasting material, but at a much flatter angle. They glide over the surface and are not ‘shot up’. This means that dirt is removed exceptionally gently and the degree and intensity of cleaning can be freely selected.
Almost anything is possible, from ‘like new’ to ‘patina preserved’. The rotec process from Remmers is a consistent further development of the so-called ‘Jos’ process; with the same cleaning effectiveness, nozzle wear is significantly reduced. The physical characteristics of the rotec glass powders, such as their degree of hardness, grain shape, size and fraction, are tailored to this technique and make an important contribution to achieving optimum results.
Chemical cleaning

The principle of action of acidic cleaners is essentially always the same: the active component soaks through or behind the dirt crust and causes it to dissolve. Surfactants enable the surface to be wetted, encapsulate the dirt and allow it to be washed off. Remmers BFA has a different mechanism of action and convinces with its uncomplicated application. It is used to remove all types of biological soiling and as preventive protection against new colonisation. The following maxim can be formulated for every cleaning process: ‘As intensive as necessary, but as gentle as possible’. As both the soiled surfaces and the type and intensity of the soiling are subject to an extremely wide range, product recommendations are often problematic. We recommend creating representative sample areas.

Quantify lead contamination

Restoring the glamour of facades soiled by industrialisation

Typical urban façade soiling that needs to be removed when cleaning natural stone surfaces is usually caused by the deposition of atmospheric suspended particles such as dust, diesel soot, tyre and brake abrasion dust, iron dust from the railway, etc. These often contain heavy metals and can react with the stone substance and destroy the original surface. They often contain heavy metals and can react with the stone substance and destroy the original surface. Another problem with many natural stones is that the dirt particles are embedded in plaster that has formed secondarily on the surface of the stone. In any case, well thought-out cleaning processes are required that reduce or even remove the dirt, release as few pollutants as possible and protect the substrate, i.e. the original substance. A challenging task for which Clean Galena is the solution. Whether and to what extent a façade is contaminated with lead can be easily checked on site with the Remmers Lead-Box.

Remmers Lead-Box

Cleaning compress Clean Galena

Emission-free without dust and noise

In recent years, awareness of the emissions that can arise during façade cleaning has grown considerably, and rightly so. Particular attention must be paid to the question of whether heavy metals can be released into the environment in any form during cleaning. As a paste-like cleaner, Clean Galena removes urban soiling such as tar, rust, plaster, grease and metals from valuable natural stone substrates in particular, without releasing the soiling as is common practice with conventional cleaning methods such as sandblasting. Clean Galena binds and complexes impurities and pollutants in the compress itself, resulting in a complete absence of emissions and, in addition, controlled disposal of residues.

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What kind of emissions and releases are we talking about exactly?

Experience has shown that impurities on natural stone façades are urban in nature and therefore heavily contaminated with heavy metals, particularly lead. This lead comes, for example, from leaded petrol, abrasion from brakes and tyres from public transport. It is important to realise that lead has been classified as toxic to reproduction since 2018, i.e. it can impair the sexual function and fertility of men and women and therefore does not belong in our environment under any circumstances. These heavy metal compounds are often inseparably combined with other dirt particles.
On the one hand, these dirt crusts are a visual problem, on the other hand they damage the building. Facades should therefore be gently cleaned regularly without releasing the heavy metal load into the environment. Remmers recommends Clean Galena: Clean. Safe. Emission-free.
Creating cycles. Avoid emissions.

From the emission-free cleaning of façades contaminated with heavy metals to the disposal of cleaning agent residues, the use of Clean Galena represents a contemporary and holistic solution from the ‘cradle to the grave’. Pollutants are complexly bound in the cleaner and are not released and emitted back into the environment.

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The application:

After the successful application of Clean Galena, the compress forms cracks and detaches itself from the façade in parts. Dried compress residues can be easily removed by hand from the cleaned substrate and returned directly to the container.
If desired or necessary, Clean Galena can be applied several times. If a less efficient cleaning result or a longer reaction time is desired or required, we recommend using Clean Galena neutral, with a minimum amount of active cleaning agents.
To individualise the cleaning effect and drying time, we recommend combining the two product variants Clean Galena neutral and Clean Galena max (with a maximum proportion of active cleaning agents). We recommend rinsing the cleaned surfaces with clear water.
Responsible handling of resources

The Clean Galena material itself is completely harmless in its composition. It consists of natural clay minerals, various easily biodegradable complexing agents used in the food industry, fruit acid derivatives and cellulose - it does not contain ammonium carbonate or EDTA.

Therefore, Clean Galena - if it were not interspersed with impurities as intended - could be disposed of with household waste after drying and a weight loss of approx. 80%. However, because the natural stone impurities to be removed often contain heavy metals, the dried residues in the container must be collected and analysed for lead. Depending on the contamination and in consultation with the local authorities, these are then disposed of.
Winner of the BAKA Prize

Clean Galena was honoured with a commendation at the BAKA award ceremony for product innovations in 2019. You can find more interesting information on the areas of application and use of Clean Galena in our product video.

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Peel-off-paste Arte Mundit

For all interior surfaces. Without dust and water.

When cleaning interior areas, the biggest challenge is avoiding dust and the water usually required for rinsing. Preparatory and construction site measures to protect the building fabric and surrounding and neighbouring construction sections often reach the limits of feasibility and cost-effectiveness. With the development of Arte Mundit, these limitations are a thing of the past. Arte Mundit is a solvent-free peel-off paste for the water-free removal of dust, soot and other contaminants from natural stone, marble, concrete, brick, plaster, plasterboard, stucco, polished wood or synthetic building materials.

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Architecture inside Union Station in Toronto

The operating principle

These strippable pastes are based on a specially formulated natural latex dispersion. Depending on the requirements and task, there are different types, which are distinguished by an increasing proportion of cleaning-active complexing agent.

As the water in the peel-off paste evaporates, the polymer cross-links to form a dirt-binding, elastic film that adheres to the surface to be cleaned. This film can be easily removed mechanically without the need for water. The cleaning effect is based on two different principles, which vary depending on the type of soiling and the formulation of the product.

On the one hand, surface soiling sticks to the resulting film; on the other hand, the corresponding components dissolve and complex certain compounds on the surface to be cleaned and are then also incorporated into the latex film. After the product has been removed, a cleaned surface remains.
The different types of Arte Mundit

The causes of soiling can be very different: Sometimes it is soot deposits, sometimes industrial dust or even residues from former use or production emissions. The causes are varied and sometimes difficult to recognise. This makes a gentle, analytical approach to removing the contaminants all the more important. The basic product of the Arte Mundit family, type I, is a specially formulated, aqueous dispersion of a natural rubber.

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If it is necessary to chemically remove contamination in addition to adhering dust particles, small amounts of different complexing agents are added to the base material.
As the addition of these components has an influence on the viscosity of the latex dispersion, the end product must be readjusted in each case in order to achieve the desired application characteristics. Different types of Arte Mundit are therefore available depending on the content and type of cleaning active ingredients.
The cleaning success of Arte Mundit depends on the substrate and the type and intensity of soiling and is difficult to predict. We therefore recommend creating sample areas and selecting the product with the lowest proportion of cleaning-active additives and a satisfactory cleaning result.

Brochure "Preservation of historic buildings"

Our comprehensive brochure on the subject of building conservation and heritage preservation helps to explain the facts and find lasting, customised solutions for your project.

To the brochure

Gentle cleaning

12 products found

AGE

Article No. 136801

Arte Mundit

Article No. 22202083

Solvent-free, skin-forming peel-off paste for water-free removal of dust, soot and other impurities

Arte Mundit ECO

Article No. 22203083

Solvent-free, film-forming peel-off paste for water-free removal of dust, soot and other impurities

Clean AC [basic]

Article No. 067201

Acidic cleaner

Clean Galena max

Article No. 066101

Cleaner for emission-free cleaning of mineral surfaces

Clean Galena neutral

Article No. 066201

Cleaner for emission-free cleaning of mineral surfaces

Clean WR

Article No. 067505

Acidic cleaner

Green Growth Remover

Article No. 067603

Special detergent for removing green growth on terraces, stone floors and walls

LEAD Box

Article No. 496901

Equipment for non-destructive testing of lead content in facades

rotec Glass Powder

Article No. 528025

rotec soft jet granules, no risk of silicosis

rotec Turbine

Article No. 524302

Traffic Film Remover

Article No. 067105

Surfactant solution for removing grime, dirt incrustation, dust, oil and grease deposits

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