What does abrasion have to do with cleaning a spill?
Abrasion is sometimes useful in “grinding” a substance from a surface. The traction and the abrasive qualities of clay adsorbents were their original purpose; Clay was used as an adsorbent by default because better alternatives were not available. Eventually, people using clay found out that their machinery was depreciating faster than usual. What was found was that the clay’s dust had silica in it, which would then get into seals, pumps, and moving parts. This dust has a hardness factor of 7 (on the Mohr’s Hardness Scale), whereas steel has a hardness factor of 6. With the hardness factor of clay being higher than that of steel, the silica particles will be abrasive on these machines and the wear and tear will depreciate the machine faster than normal. P.O.L. Sorb has a hardness factor of less than 1 and is safe for use around machinery without the fear of ruining those machines.
