Ground force

A safe and hygienic floor is a key building block of any food processing operation. NGF spoke with Bjørn Hegstad to get the lowdown.

“The non-porous AcryliCon surface does not allow penetration by liquids and dirt, or the proliferation of fungi or bacteria”
-Bjørn Hegstad

Hygiene is of paramount importance in the food industry. What features should a floor possess to help safeguard against contamination?
Bjørn Hegstad. The floor must be non-porous and free of pinholes, and be capable of withstanding the chemical abuse caused by spillages and cleaning. If the surface breaks down, delaminates or becomes porous the outcome can be slippery or uneven areas, with added hygiene hazards. The floor system must retain its cleanability for life, not just for the first year or two.

AcryliCon is a 100 percent solid, resin saturated flooring system. The non-porous, monolithic and impervious AcryliCon surface does not allow penetration by liquids and dirt, or the proliferation of fungi or bacteria. AcryliCon Systems are highly resistant to chemical attack, cleaning agents, liquids and foodstuffs.

We can further enhance this protection with the addition of Microban incorporated into the AcryliCon floor. This is an efficient, non-poisonous agent that inhibits the growth of bacteria. Microban gives the floor invisible and 'eternal' protection against bacteria, because it mirrors the longevity of the floor. AcryliCon with Microban is the perfect floor for the food processing industry.

What is it about your product that sets you apart from the competition? Are there particular technologies or techniques that are unique to you?
BH. AcryliCon resins are completely unique within the market place. The formulation of these resins is a closely guarded secret, known by only few people and completely unchanged since its invention over 30 years ago.

AcryliCon System Industrial flooring has a high compressive strength, is non-porous, non-toxic and has an exceptional longevity.

Our long term performance comes from the ability to stay chemically intact over time. Unlike other traditional resins, AcryliCon resins do not chemically degrade. Polyurethane's and Epoxy's become brittle and porous as UV light, water, chemicals and air strip them of their plasticisers. Standard Acrylics become spongy and porous and their compressive strengths actually reduce. All of the resins become hard to clean, impossible to repair effectively and eventually need replacing, this can be within a timeframe as little as 2-5 years.

Due to AcryliCon's unique chemical construction, we can show you floors from 1978 that are still functioning - still easy to clean, good to look at and still protecting the substrate. Everything we say, we can prove in real life with references.

In the current business climate any downtime in a factory or processing plant has to be avoided. Is it possible to install a durable and effective industrial floor while minimising any disruption?
BH. The ability to maintain and repair the floors has taken on more significance due to current working practices of modern factories. With efficient factories working 24/7 the inability to shut down production areas to allow essential maintenance can leave floors looking unsightly and unhygienic. In this regard the ability to carry out maintenance quickly and easily is of great importance when choosing a floor surface - even when specifying new build greenfield sites.

When a conventional resin system becomes ready for overhauling it is necessary to completely remove it from the substrate before starting again, creating disruption, noise and dust and that with some systems can be highly dangerous to health.

AcryliCon is a special thermo-elastic resin that ensures each layer chemically fuses to the previous one, no matter how old. It is not possible to separate the individual layers that make up the system. Allied to a cure time of just two hours, this ensures that maintenance work is both more economic and less disruptive than is the case with other systems.

These factors make AcryliCon the cheapest floor you can buy for money. It lasts longer than any other floor in the market place.

Bjørn Hegstad is a chemical engineer and President of AcryliCon. With over 30 years of experience he has developed AcryliCon to tackle the challenges of industrial flooring in Norway, Sweden, Finland, England, Ireland, Middle East, Canada and the USA.