GuardTechRemover® : the alternative concrete remover

Today, in the concrete industry, the common solutions to remove ready-to-use and prefabricated concrete are products based on dangerous acids (hydrochloric, citric or phosphoric). Their usage creates safety hazards, harm the environment as well as damaging building equipment. GuardTechRemover (GTR) is based on a synthesised molecule which occurs naturally, providing safe product implementation. Furthermore, GTR is multi-functional and meets the demands of the concrete industry. It eliminates concrete and cement build-up on building site equipment (silos, trucks, mix trucks, moulds and equipment).

In GTR, Guard Industrie offers new generation technology.

GuardTechRemover® is the result of close collaboration between DuPont de Nemours, Guard Industry and major industry stakeholders of the Ready-mixed concrete, prefabricated concrete and building industry. This new generation high performance cleaner matches the different end-user requirements with respect to safety of use, efficiency, environmental impact and care for the treated surfaces.

The excellent water solubility and small molecular size of GTR’s formulation allows it to penetrate deep inside concrete and cement residues and softens from within. Outstanding materials compatibility means GTR can be used on most metal, painted and plastic surfaces with significantly less concern for etching or damage. Additionally, GuardTech Remover® provides fewer operator safety concerns compared to alternative concrete cleaning agents such as hydrochloric and phosphoric acid. It is this unique combination of properties that makes GuardTech Remover® the cement and concrete remover of choice for maintaining construction tools, equipment and vehicles.

Highly Efficient Cleaning Action

The highly efficient cleaning action of GuardTechRemover® is a result of an innovative blend combining a synthesised organic acid, found naturally in plants and fruit, with powerful surface active agents. This unique formulation allows GTR to penetrate deep inside concrete and cement residues and react from within, de-structuring and loosening sand aggregate bindings without damaging the underlying surface. Because the active component of Guard TechRemover® is neutralised following the cleaning action, aggregates and rinse water can be recycled and reused in new batches of concrete.

Enhanced Operator Safety Profile

According to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, which has just published a report on emerging chemical risks, every year 74,000 deaths are associated with hazardous substances in the workplace. In other words, the chemicals cause 10 times more deaths than injuries.Unlike other concrete removing formulations, "Ready to Use" Guard TechRemover® 25 is not classified as corrosive to skin and as a result has fewer handling issues. Under European legislation, certain chemicals are assigned Workplace Exposure Limits (WEL) and as a result must be carefully monitored and controlled in the workplace to ensure that exposure limit values are not exceeded during use. Unlike phosphoric and hydrochloric acid none of the components of GTR are assigned a WEL.

Environmental Profile

All components used in the GuardTechRemover® 25 have been classified as readily biodegradable according to OECD Test Guidelines 301. This Guideline is a screening method for the evaluation of ready biodegradability of chemical substances.Therefore, a chemical substance that shows positive results in this Guideline can be considered readily biodegradable and consequently rapidly degradable in the environment.

Outstanding Materials Compatibility with Surfaces and Equipment

The active component of GuardTechRemover® has been tested for compatibility with common materials used in the construction industry. The study results demonstrated significantly less corrosion than active components used in alternative concrete removers based on mineral acids eg. hydrochloric acid.

• The tests were performed, in triplicate, at 23°C for 48 hours with no agitation. The results are the average of the % weight loss, and indicated that the active component of GTR caused significantly less corrosion to the test materials compared with the other common concrete remover active components. Hydrochloric Acid exhibited a high level of corrosivity to all of the test materials compared with the other test substances; in particular the results on aluminium.

• The tests were performed by immersing the plastic test material in the GTR solution for a period of 24 hours with no agitation.The results clearly show that the active component of GTR has no appreciable effect on the test plastic.

• The trials were performed by evaluating the colour of the painted plates using the spectrophotometer analysis before and after 24 hour immersion in the test solutions.The results demonstrate that the active of component of GuardTechRemover® had a negligible effect on the colour of the painted surface, whereas hydrochloric acid significantly modified and dulled the appearance.