Abstract: In modern logistics, agriculture, and specialized vehicle operations, tires, as components in direct contact with complex ground environments, have become a significant vector for the spread of pathogenic microorganisms. This paper explores an optimized solution for disinfecting simulated contaminated tire surfaces using slightly acidic electrolyzed water as a green and highly effective disinfectant, focusing on the technical advantages and application prospects of combining this with a Chlory hypochlorous acid generator.
Introduction: Biological Contamination Risks and Disinfection Challenges of Tire Surfaces
During driving, vehicle tires are highly susceptible to contamination with organic pollutants such as soil, feces, and sewage, carrying pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella, mold, viruses, and even African swine fever virus. These pathogens can travel long distances with the movement of vehicles, posing a serious threat to biosafety-sensitive areas such as farms, food processing plants, and hospitals. However, tire surface disinfection presents unique challenges:
- Complex Materials: Tires are composed of rubber, carbon black, fabric, and metal, resulting in porous and irregular surfaces that provide ideal harborage for microorganisms.
- High Organic Load: Adherent dirt and organic matter deplete the active ingredients of traditional chlorine-based disinfectants, severely weakening their effectiveness.
- Corrosiveness and Environmental Pressures: High-concentration chlorine-based disinfectants or chemicals like glutaraldehyde are susceptible to corrosion of tires and surfaces, and the residues are environmentally unfriendly.
Therefore, the search for an efficient, broad-spectrum, low-corrosive, and environmentally friendly disinfection solution is urgent.
Slightly Acidic Electrolyzed Water: An Ideal Green Disinfection Solution
Slightly acidic electrolyzed water is a disinfectant produced by electrolysis of dilute salt solutions (such as NaCl or HCl). Its pH is typically maintained between 5.0 and 6.5, and its effective chlorine concentration is stable. Its core bactericidal ingredient is hypochlorous acid, which offers the following significant advantages:
- Excellent bactericidal efficacy: Hypochlorous acid, a small, neutral molecule, can more quickly penetrate microbial cell membranes, disrupting their enzyme systems and DNA. Its bactericidal efficiency is far superior to that of sodium hypochlorite (traditional 84 disinfectant) at the same concentration.
- Broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity: It significantly inactivates bacteria, viruses, fungi, and spores.
- Environmentally friendly: Slightly acidic electrolyzed water reverts to normal water after use, leaving no toxic residue and harming the environment.
- Safety: It is minimally irritating to skin and mucous membranes, and is far less corrosive to tire rubber and metal wheels than strong acid/alkaline disinfectants.
- Overcomes organic interference: Compared to traditional chlorine preparations, HOCL maintains its robust bactericidal activity in the presence of even mild organic matter.
Integration with Chlory Hypochlorous Acid Generators: Enabling On-site Real-Time Production and Precise Control
Maximizing the effectiveness of slightly acidic electrolyzed water for tire disinfection requires stable and reliable generation equipment. The Chlory hypochlorous acid generator plays a central role in this process.
1. Disinfection Process Simulation and Optimization:
We designed a simulated disinfection optimization process, integrating the Chlory equipment:
- Step 1: Pretreatment (Flushing)
- Purpose: Remove visible large pieces of dirt and organic matter adhering to the tire surface to reduce the organic load required for subsequent disinfection.
- Operation: Use a high-pressure water jet to perform a preliminary rinse of the tire.
- Step 2: Slightly Acidic Electrolyzed Water Generation and Parameter Optimization
- Core Equipment: The Chlory hypochlorous acid generator.
- Optimization Key: The Chlory equipment's intelligent control system precisely controls two key parameters of the generated water:
- Available Chlorine Concentration: Optimized to 80-150 mg/L based on the degree of tire contamination. For severe contamination or specific pathogens (such as ASFv), an upper concentration limit can be used.
- pH: Maintained within the optimal slightly acidic range of 5.5-6.5 to ensure the presence of the highest concentration of hypochlorous acid. Advantages: The Chlory equipment enables "ready-to-use" disinfection, eliminating the storage instability issues associated with commercially available disinfectants and ensuring the highest possible hypochlorous acid activity.
- Step 3: Application and Application
- Method: Ensure the disinfectant completely covers and soaks all tire surfaces, especially the tread grooves, through a mist spray system or immersion tank.
- Application Time: Through experimental optimization, ensure a contact time of at least 5-10 minutes to ensure the disinfectant fully penetrates and kills microorganisms harbored in micropores.
- Step 4: Verification and Feedback
- Use an ATP fluorescence detector or microbial sampling and culture methods to rapidly test the disinfected tire surface to verify disinfection effectiveness. This feedback is then used to adjust the Chlory equipment's output parameters.
2. Core Optimization Values of the Chlory Generator:
- Cost Controllable: Requires only salt, electricity, and water, resulting in extremely low raw material costs, significantly reducing long-term disinfection operating expenses.
- Precision and Efficiency: Digital control ensures consistent disinfectant concentration and pH for each batch, eliminating the uncertainty associated with manual mixing and achieving standardized and repeatable disinfection results.
- Improving Biosafety: Establishing an automated disinfection channel powered by a Chlory generator at the entrance of a farm or production park enables seamless, efficient, and environmentally friendly disinfection of tires for vehicles entering and leaving, significantly enhancing overall biosafety.
Conclusion
The use of slightly acidic electrolyzed water for disinfecting contaminated tire surfaces, with its high efficiency, broad spectrum, and environmentally friendly properties, effectively addresses the pain points of traditional disinfection methods. The introduction of the Chlory hypochlorous acid generator provides solid technical support for this solution. Its advantages include on-site, real-time production, precise parameter adjustment, and low operating costs. It maximizes the disinfection efficacy of slightly acidic electrolyzed water and realizes automation and intelligent disinfection processes.
In summary, the combination of "slightly acidic electrolyzed water + Chlory hypochlorous acid generator" is not only an optimized solution for tire surface disinfection, but also an innovative model within modern biosafety management systems worthy of widespread adoption, it has provided powerful technical tools to safeguard agriculture, logistics industries and public health security for countries such as Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.
