Sweet smell of success
August 1st 2006 Sanitisers and deodorisers deal a blow to unwanted odours when cleaning. Alan Tilley of Prochem Europe looks at how best to match solution to smell and generate additional revenue
How many times have you finished a job for the householder to tell you how lovely the house now smells? For the professional carpet cleaner, deodorising is important for two reasons: cleaning alone will not eliminate most odours; deodorising will generate important additional revenue at both general and specialised levels.
As far as the customer is concerned their carpets or upholstery must smell clean as well as look clean.
Deodorising procedures differ according to the nature and source of the odour causing agent. The right type of chemical should be applied in the correct manner: added to the cleaning solution if compatible, or by surface spraying, sub-surface injecting, misting or fogging.
Odour sources can be broken down into various categories: Urine odour has a chemical origin in the reactivation of alkaline residual salts of urea and nitrogen in the dried stain. It then produces an ammonia smell when re-activated by high humidity at lower temperatures or by moisture from cleaning. This problem can be counteracted with the application of an acidic deodoriser, which may also have mild disinfectant properties as well as a re-odorant fragrance and works by chemically neutralising the odour source.
Odours from moulds, mildew, floods and food spillages are caused by bacterial decomposition, which usually occurs at a warm humid temperature range. Cleaning can sometimes worsen this type of odour as it can in the case of reactivation of old urine deposits.
Bactericidal deodorisers are effective when added to the cleaning solution, for mild or temporary odour problems, but they must be sprayed on as a post (residual) treatment in the case of severe or potential problems such as with flooded carpets. It is important that a residual sanitiser type deodoriser does not leave a sticky residue as this can accelerate re-soiling after cleaning and treatment.
One of the limitations of modern anti-microbial or bactericidal deodorisers is that they are usually based on quaternary ammonium compounds, which although highly effective and very safe can be totally de-activated by many cleaning agents containing anionic surfactants.
Make sure you apply quaternary type deodorisers either on their own or in conjunction with a non-ionic cleaner or rinse agent. Disinfectant deodorisers based on other compounds are usually compatible with most detergents but are limited by their temporary or short-term action i.e. they are non-residual and will not go on protecting the carpet or fabric from bacterial odours after cleaning.
Smoke odours from fire and nicotine require a different approach. The odour neutraliser ingredient must be broken down to fine particle size in order to combine with and neutralise the smoke molecule.
This type of odour neutraliser works by odour pairing or combining essential oils fragrance compounds with the organic components in smoke and fire residue. Most of the mild smoke odours found in carpet and fabric can be treated by adding the correct type of odour neutraliser to the cleaning solution.
For building fire restoration, fogging units can be utilised to produce a fine micron size of odour neutraliser that penetrates the fabrics and porous contaminated surfaces. These types of neutralisers are also available in solvent soluble form for use in dry cleaning procedures and are more effective against fuel oil odours.
Sight, touch, and smell are equally important in judging how well you have cleaned. If the environment smells as good as it looks and feels, you will have a more than satisfied customer.
Alan Tilley is managing director of Prochem Europe.For a wide range of solutions relating to this topic, see: www.prochem.co.uk More articles from Prochem Europe Ltd: | 
