The degradation of hydrocarbons by superoxidation produces water, oxygen and Na2CO3 (sodium carbonate).

This carbonic acid salt is a white, powdery-crystalline substance that has been used for centuries under the name “soda” or “washing soda”, for example in water purification or the food industry.

In one of our more recent surface treatment tests, oil residues were treated on a concrete floor in an underground parking garage. The crystalline structures of the sodium carbonate were very clearly visible after the end of the reaction.

Chemists from the TU Berlin analysed a sample of the powder in the laboratory. The result: “The solid end product of the Arvox reaction (white powder) is sodium carbonate or thermonitrite (hydrated sodium carbonate). The chemical composition of the crystalline material was confirmed by X-ray diffractometry (XRD)”.

Detection of the phase-pure reaction product in the diffractogram

In the diffractogram, the green line represents the measured values of the examined sample and the blue bars show the pattern for crystalline Na2CO3 – H2O, which are almost congruent. This is referred to as clean-phase compounds. This confirms that the superoxidation on which Arvox is based generates environmentally neutral reaction products.