Solidus Industries: A trusted ally of the Armed Forces
In 1993, DST (Defence Science and Technology) conducted rigorous testing on the effects of various aircraft cleaning products on the corrosion rates of aluminium alloy used in military and commercial aircraft structure. Commissioned by the Australian Defence Force, the study is believed to be the most significant of its kind carried out anywhere in the world.
After testing for 21 days, the results showed that not only was Solidus Industries’ Zi-400 Aircraft Cleaner highly effective in preventing corrosion, it was also scientifically proven to arrest existing corrosion and stop it from spreading. No other cleaning product of the 19 tested by DST had this capability.
On the strength of these results Zi-400 was chosen as the preferred cleaning product for Australian Military Aircraft and Solidus Industries has been the trusted ally of the RAAF ever since.
In addition to Zi-400 HD, today Solidus Industries supply a range of state-of-the-art cleaning products to both Australian and International military forces. We are Oceania distributors of ZOK products, a range of powerful water based gas turbine engine cleaners originally formulated for the UK Ministry of Defence.
The challenge put to ZOK International Group (originally known as Airworthy), was to develop a product that could efficiently deal with salt fouling in gas turbine engines to guarantee that search and rescue helicopters would be available on demand, while also acting as an effective corrosion inhibitor. The product passed with flying colours and is now the product of choice for the UK Ministry of Defence and a number of major military powers across the world.
With the addition of Zi-400 HD Industrial and our Cleen Screen Window and Canopy Cleaner, Solidus Industries cleaning products have a wide range of applications to guarantee top performance, immediate response and maximum lifespan of military aircraft, land combat vehicles and navy ships operating in the most extreme and unique environments, from dry scorching hot deserts, wild seas, humid jungle, ice cold terrain and densely populated cities.
A Strategic Defence Against Corrosion
Our world leading cleaning products not only provide a powerful clean in the toughest of situations, they are scientifically proven to prevent corrosion and extend the lifespan of military vehicles.
Our cleaning products maintain:
Trusted Cleaning Products for Military Vehicles
Zi-400 HD Aviation
Corrosion Inhibiting Multi Purpose Industrial Cleaner
Zi-400 HD is a cutting edge colloidal cleaner that is water based, non-hazardous and highly effective at removing the toughest of residue build ups on heat exchangers, general plant and equipment and in fuel pipelines. Scientifically proven to inhibit corrosion, Zi-400 HD is the ideal multi purpose cleaning product for any oil and gas facility.
Zok 27
Gas Turbine Compressor Cleaner
Originally formulated for the UK Ministry of Defence, this powerful water based Gas Turbine Compressor Cleaner is officially certified by the world leading manufacturers to the LNG industry including Siemens, General Electric, Mitsubishi, Pratt & Whitney, Solar Turbines and Kawasaki.
Zok 27 Gold Standard
Gas Turbine Compressor Cleaner
This environmentally friendly solvent based cleaner is formulated with plant based surfactants, meeting the gold standard for ecological sustainability for use in the North Sea as outlined in the OSPAR convention. Perfect for offshore oil rigs operating Gas Turbine Compressor Engines in ecologically sensitive environments.
Cleen Screen
Crystal Clear Multi Purpose Windscreen and Canopy Cleaner
Originally formulated for the UK Ministry of Defence, this powerful water based Gas Turbine Compressor Cleaner is officially certified by the world leading manufacturers to the Power Generation industry including Siemens, General Electric, Mitsubishi, Pratt & Whitney, Solar Turbines and Kawasaki.
Apollo Foamer
Detergent Foam Applicator
This environmentally friendly solvent based cleaner is formulated with plant based surfactants, meeting the gold standard for ecological sustainability for use in the North Sea as outlined in the OSPAR convention. A powerful water based Gas Turbine Compressor Cleaner specially designed to create as little ecological impact as possible.
Demineralised Water Units
Corrosion Inhibiting Multi Purpose Industrial Cleaner
Originally formulated for the UK Ministry of Defence, this powerful water based Gas Turbine Compressor Cleaner is officially certified by the world leading manufacturers to the Power Generation industry including Siemens, General Electric, Mitsubishi, Pratt & Whitney, Solar Turbines and Kawasaki.
Cleaning Solutions for Land Combat & Transport Vehicles
Whether battling opposition forces in a war-zone, providing disaster-relief to communities or fulfilling a peacekeeping mission abroad, ground-based military vehicles are required to operate in extremely harsh and diverse conditions, while sustaining a high availability rate and reliability.
Excluding the risk of battle damage and mechanical failure, the greatest threat to defence vehicles achieving their PWD is corrosion. This is why Solidus Industries Zi-400 HD Industrial Cleaner is the perfect cleaning solution for heavy armoured fighting vehicles, combat vehicles, reconnaissance vehicles, protected mobility vehicles, unprotected field vehicles, logistics vehicles and engineering equipment.
All ground-based military vehicles are exposed to corrosive contaminants in their line of duty, from hard burnt on carbon deposits from (fire arm blowback) during armed combat, to blood stains, grease and oil smears, to environmental build-ups of dust, mud, sand and salts.
Extensive testing by the Australian DSTO shows that Zi-400 HD is not only a highly robust and effective cleaner, it is also scientifically proven to prevent corrosion in metals, and will also arrest existing corrosion after the process has begun.
Applied with our Apollo Foam Applicator, Zi-400 HD is the perfect cleaning product to ensure that land based military vehicles not only reach their PWD, but extend their lifespan as is often required.
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For environments where high visibility is mission critical, Solidus Industries have developed Cleen Screen, a state-of-the-art window and plastics cleaner that provides a crystal clear, halo and distortion free finish.
Water based and non-flammable, Cleen Screen is the perfect cleaning product for helmet visors, sunglasses, protective goggles, binoculurs, windscreens, windows, touch screens and instrument panels, while also doubling as a highly effective spot cleaner on hard non-optical surfaces.
Protect Battle Tank Engines With ZOK
Heavy armoured fighting vehicles require massive horsepower to drive them. This is why M1 Abrams Battle Tanks are built with gas turbine engines. These robust engines provide the grunt required to traverse muddy rivers, marshy swamp lands, dense jungle and rocky desert terrains while scaling or crushing obstacles in its path like low lying walls, barbed wire and cars.
For squadron commanders, maintaining peak operational efficiency of their battle tank engines is a high priority. Operating at ground level in environments where the air quality is low can greatly reduce the efficiency of the gas compressor, causing the engine to work harder and at higher temperatures to get the job done. Not only does this increase wear and tear on the motor, every 50°C rise in exhaust gas temperature (EGT) equates to 1% increase in fuel burn. In a vehicle that consumes an extraordinary 1.15 litres of fuel per kilometre (or 0.6 mpg), this fuel burn increase can lead to a significant blowout in operational costs over the course of a mission.
Additionally, environmental contaminants such as smoke, fumes, grime, dust and salts are highly corrosive to gas turbine engines. This fouling can lead to unnecessary downtime and costly maintenance.
This is why Solidus Industries are the Oceania distributors of ZOK products, a range of revolutionary gas turbine engine cleaners that have achieved first class results in military vehicles across the world.
We recommend a combination of on-line and off-line washing with ZOK 27 to boost engine performance and availability, inhibit corrosion, reduce fuel consumption and increase the overall lifespan of engine components. ZOK 27 is approved for use by Honeywell, manufacturer of the gas turbine engines in Abrams M1 Battle Tanks.
Cleaning Solutions for Land Combat & Transport Vehicles
During operation wind turbines naturally build up dirt and contaminates on the surface of their blades. Technically described as ‘fouling’, this build up disrupts the laminar flow of air across the blade leading to reduced turbine efficiency. Both computer modelling and actual field results show that dirty turbine blades can result in up to 5% of loss of performance. Loss of performance equates to less power that the turbine is generating – ultimately eating away at profits.
Solidus Industries recommend regularly washing the blades of a wind turbine with our Zi-400 HD Industrial Cleaner. Highly effective on residual build-up and safe to use on composites, Zi-400 HD is also scientifically proven to prevent corrosion in alloy and metal componentry, making it the ultimate product for cleaning wind turbine blades.
Onshore Oil and Gas Fields
Natural Gas Power Stations are an integral part of our energy landscape. They provide a clean and reliable support to renewable energy sources, and will continue to expand as Australia’s power generation industry transitions away from black and brown coal power plants to more environmentally sustainable solutions. The lifeblood of a Natural Gas Power Station is its gas turbine compressor engines.
Gas turbines can lose 10% of their efficiency if they are not cleaned regularly.
Solidus Industries are the Oceania distributors of ZOK 27, a revolutionary gas turbine compressor cleaner that has achieved astounding results in natural gas power stations across the world, boosting engine performance, reducing fuel consumption, minimising downtime and increasing the overall lifespan of engine components.
Clean and Protect Your Engine with ZOK
We recommend developing a custom washing schedule of on-line and off-line washes with ZOK 27 to increase efficiency, reduce wear and tear and ultimately provide the maximum return on your investment.
Internationally renowned as a dynamic all in one water-based cleaner and corrosion inhibitor, ZOK 27 is officially certified by Siemens, General Electric, Rolls-Royce, Mitsubishi, Pratt & Whitney, Solar Turbines and Kawasaki.
External Applications
For external cleaning of heat exchangers, pipelines and other power station machinery, our Zi-400 HD Industrial cleaning product is renowned for its ability to safely and effectively remove residual build up while simultaneously inhibiting corrosion.
Offshore Oil and Gas Platforms
The vast benefits of Solar as a renewable energy source are becoming increasingly recognised in Australia, with over 9 GW of large scale solar projects under construction in 2019, amounting to a national investment of $11 Billion AUD. On top of this, there are now over 2 million Australian homes utilising solar panels on their roof. Considering that Australia has the largest concentration of solar radiation per square metre of any continent in the world, it makes sense that Solar Energy will play an integral part of the country’s power generation industry of the future.
To fulfil this potential, it is important that solar panels across Australia are regularly cleaned to ensure that they are operating at maximum capacity.
Clean Solar Panels = Increased Efficiency = Financial Sustainability
Why do Solar Panels need to be cleaned? During operation, it is natural for dust and other airborne contaminates to settle on the solar panels. Heat and moisture then bake the contaminants onto the solar panel, creating shade on the silicon cells underneath which ultimately reduces the panel’s ability to receive energy from the sun. Testing has suggested that dirty solar panels can lead to a reduction of efficiency of 25%. ZI-400 HD Industrial is the perfect product for removing contaminants and restoring the panel to its full original factory efficiency.
Offshore Oil Spills
As industry professionals know, the need for an effective and environmentally friendly Oil Spill Dispersant (OSD) is not only relevant to catastrophic disasters resulting from uncapped wells or sinking oil tankers, as small amounts of weeping oil is a common occurrence at offshore oil and gas platforms.
What many people don’t realise is that even in areas where there has been no drilling or exploration, it is common for small amounts of oil to seep up into the sea from untapped oil reserves below the seabed. Luckily the ocean has a microbiological system of breaking up the polluting oil known as bioremediation. The ideal oil spill dispersant will support this natural process in man-made scenarios, while having as little environmental impact as possible.
Solidus Industries’ Zi-400 HD is an internationally renowned oil spill dispersant. Tested in 2010 against seven other dispersants in the USA, Zi-400 HD ranked as the most ecologically friendly product in the test, with high profile products such as Corexit and Dispersit found to be moderately and highly toxic to two species of shrimp and small fish respectively.
When sprayed undiluted onto an oil slick via boat or airplane, Zi-400 HD’s colloidal formula coupled with its advanced surfactant technology effectively divides the oil into tiny particles without emulsification, allowing them to float up to be naturally consumed by microbes living at the surface of the water. This ensures rapid and effective bioremediation.
Case Study – Over 99% availability with ZOK
A combined cycle power station operated by Sithe Sterling Energy in upstate New York was responsible for providing electricity to a nearby Oneida manufacturing plant.
With an integrated fitout of a GE Frame 6B gas turbine compressor engine, Zurn HRSG and extraction steam turbine, Sithe estimated that to successfully meet their supply demands they would need to maintain an availability rate of 95.6% and reliability factor of 97.0% of their gas turbine compressor engines.
Thanks to a regular cleaning program using ZOK, their actual results were significantly higher.
| Actual Availability Rate | Actual Reliability Factor | |
| 98.5% | 99% | Year 1 |
| 96.5% | 98% | Year 2 |
| 99.3% | 99.9% | Year 3 |
The Power of Preventative Maintenance
Sithe attributed this success to a consistent routine of washing their gas turbine compressor engine to ensure peak performance. An on-line water wash was performed each day the engine was in operation, with ZOK 27 detergent used on alternate days. For on-line hot washes, ZOK would be used for the first 3 minutes of the water wash, followed by a 17 minute rinse. In addition to daily hot washes, Sithe performed a quarterly off-line cold wash with ZOK.
The balance of consistent on-line and off-line washes is the key to success. Sithe experienced this first hand during a period when they ran their gas turbine compressor engine for 201 consecutive days without an off-line wash. Their calculations showed that the gas turbine output had fallen by 5.6% and the heat rate by 2.4%. Following an off-line wash with ZOK 27, the engine’s performance was restored to its original levels.
Thanks to Sithe’s consistent routine of on-line and off-line washing with ZOK 27, readings between quarterly off-line cleans showed only a minimal reduction of output performance (0.4%) and minimal heat rate increases (0.3%).
Our Clients in the Defence Forces
