Michael Mulcahy founder and Chief Executive for Ascalon International, Inc. introduced VGI attendees to their new biobased all purpose cleaner, Laurinex. Ascalon is a Virginia and Veteran-owned company, which designs, manufactures, and markets a revolutionary family of ecologically sustainable cleaning product that completely removes odor-causing bacteria.
Ascalon’s Laurinex product is made in the USA and completely removes stains caused by mold, mildew, and other bacteria and viruses. It’s inherently safe to humans, animals, and the environment because it is made with only:
- FDA recognized food safe ingredients,
- 95% USDA certified Biobased content, and
- an EPA Safer Choice Program approved formula.
Their formula is a fascinating result of research into the how and why of Bacteria resist most cleaning products. Their research starts all the way back to 3.6 billion years ago when Bacteria first appeared on Earth as single cell organisms in order to understand how Bacteria grows, thrives, etc. There are two basic concepts out of this research, one is of course “Bacteria”, and the other concept is about “biofilms”.
Biofilms are slimy inanimate layers formed when bacteria encase themselves in a hydrated matrix of polysaccharide and protein. This encasement is a remarkable survival mechanism for Bacteria. A biofilm holds the Bacteria together as a community so to speak (biofilm encased bacteria). Bacteria inside a biofilm, are free to grow, divide and disperse.
Laurinex attacks and cleans away Bacteria by breaking apart the biofilm to destroy the odor-causing Bacteria underneath. Once the biofilm is removed, the Bacteria doesn’t have a place to return to so to speak, it’s gone and so is it’s community which is what makes Laurinex such an effective product. So surfaces stay cleaner longer, until of course more Bacteria are brought on to it.
Many, many thank-yous to Michael Mulcahy for speaking at our February VGI meeting! His presentation is below where much more detail can be found on biofilms and Bacteria than what has been simplistically described here.
VGI Presentation - Ascalon Elements of Technology Design 03192020
References:
- Bacteria: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteria; URL accessed 3/18/2020
- Biofilm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofilm; URL accessed 3/18/2020
- Syntrophy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntrophy; URL accessed 3/18/2020
- PowerPoint Presentation – The New Standard of Clean, Laurinex: Elements of Technology Design; 3/19/2020; Ascalon International, Inc. (embedded in this blog post);
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