Auto Laundry News publishes dozens of feature articles throughout the year and countless news items, releases, and product spotlights. Occasionally, one of these content pieces will spark a slew of correspondence from readers.
Typically, the responses are simple reactions to the piece — interesting, great job, you should cover this topic again, etc. — but, on occasion, the feedback is such that we decide to revisit the piece to clarify and expand on the content.
In September, we ran an article on chemical safety written by Arcadian Services president and CEO Kipp Kofsky. The article was extremely well received by our readership, prompting numerous social media posts and emails to the staff.
One reader was particularly intrigued by Kofsky’s discussion on reclaim systems. The article states that “an inherent danger that has grown as the use of water reclaim systems within the industry increases is the generation of Hydrogen Sulfide Gas (H2S). H2S is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is poisonous, corrosive, and flammable, with trace amounts in ambient atmosphere having a characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs.”
The reader did not agree that reclaim systems had this potential danger and reached out to ALN for clarification. While I understand many of the systems, products, and business strategies successful professional car care businesses leverage every day, I am not a technical expert.
After doing some research, I discovered that although the creation of H2S gas in a reclaim system is possible, it will only occur if the system is not properly maintained. Rather than attempting to describe the phenomena, I decided to contact Kofsky for further explanation.
“Bacteria are naturally present in the system before treatment,” Kofsky said. “Many of these bacteria, especially the ones living in the sludge layer live in an anaerobic state (without oxygen), including sulfate-reducing bacteria. These bacteria break down sulfur-containing materials that are present in the water, and in their metabolic process, use sulfate as an electron acceptor and generate H2S.
“In our experience, we have not seen a wash that doesn’t have to pump their outside tanks at some point for sludge. If sludge is present, it is likely to have anaerobic bacteria that are capable of producing H2S.”
The key phrase here is ‘capable of producing.’ Car wash reclaim systems are inherently safe and necessary to ensure our industry continues to be good water stewards. Just like any piece of equipment, reclaim systems must be monitored, serviced, and maintained to ensure consistent, safe results.
