The concept of washing clothes with the aid of
ozone (O3) gas dissolved in ambient temperature water was first introduced
to the American laundry industry in 1991. The system touted the capability
of reducing energy use and traditional wash chemicals while recycling most
of the wash water for reuse. Since that time, the number of laundries
embracing this technology has grown dramatically. Ozone occurs in nature as
a result of electrical discharge (for example, lightning), ultraviolet
radiation, or the photochemical action of sunlight on atmospheric oxygen.
European scientists learned how to recreate these reactions in controlled
laboratory experiments in the latter part of the 19th century and by the
turn of the century the first ozone generators were being produced
commercially in France and Germany.
Ozone is a colorless gas that in low concentrations has a slight odor, most
often described as the smell of fresh air after a thunderstorm. Extremely
unstable, ozone cannot be stored and must be generated on site. It is one
and a half times as dense as oxygen and about 13 times more soluble in
water. Table 1 shows ozone to be second only to fluorine in its
oxidizing potential and 150% more powerful in its disinfecting capabilities
than chlorine.
In an aqueous solution, it is an effective biocide, capable of destroying
bacterial and viral colonies. It is also effective against molds and fungi
and as a deodorizer of air and water. Ozone works well as a disinfectant
because upon disintegration it reverts to its original form, oxygen (O2). It
dissipates quickly in water temperatures more than 38ºC (104ºF),
which mandates the use of lukewarm water. Ozone has been utilized for more
than 100 years in Europe in positive applications as diverse as primary
disinfection of municipal drinking water supplies, aquaculture, and pulp
bleaching. Its widespread use in the United States has been hampered by the
preference for inexpensive chemicals (especially chlorine) compared with the
expensive, generally unreliable ozone-generating equipment. But with
mounting federal government pressure to reduce chemical pollution of the
environment, coupled with the development of cost-efficient, reliable, and
low-maintenance ozone-generating systems, these systems are gaining
popularity. The main benefits of Laundering with ozone are as follows:
Cost Saving Advantages
Hot Water (Energy) Savings (70% - 90%)
Conventional washing methods require that 70% of wash water be heated to
temperatures in ranges of 60º to 82ºC (140º to 180ºF)
for proper stain removal when used in conjunction with conventional
chemicals. With the ozone washing system, no water is heated to more than 32ºC
to 35ºC (90ºF to 95ºF), and then only
in heavily soiled wash loads.
In warmer climates such as Florida's, where groundwater temperatures are
already elevated, no additional heat is required. While there is more
electrical consumption and cost associated with this system, the cost
increase is small when compared with the savings resulting from the
reduction or elimination of hot water.
Note :
In certain states (New Hampshire, Washington,
California [where the regulation is under review for repeal], and
Pennsylvania [where it is unenforced], acute care facilities* are required
to use 71ºC (160ºF) wash-water temperatures and keep the linen
immersed in these temperatures for a minimum of 24 minutes. This regulation
was originally enacted nationally in 1938 as a result of studies by L.A.
Arnold, which demonstrated that exposure to water temperatures of 71ºC
for 24 minutes would kill nearly all bacterial forms other than spores.
Laundering at lower temperatures was less effective because the tallow-based
soaps and other detergents in use at that time required hot water for proper
emulsification. It was not until energy costs began to rise in the early
1970s that this issue was revisited. Extensive testing performed by the
Veterans Administration proved that modern detergents coupled with water
dilution in the wash wheel, chlorine bleach, the mechanical action of the
washer, and the heat contact of dryers or ironers produced "hygienically
clean" linen (virtually free of pathogenic microorganisms). There are
no documented cases of nosocomial infection being spread via processed
hospital laundry. At this time, with the exception of the few states noted
above, there are no regulations regarding the use of water temperature in
health care facilities.
Chemical Cost Reduction (60% -
65%)
Ozone enhances the power of detergents by
breaking water surface tension and nullifying the water-hardening effects of
Calcium and Magnesium. Ozone makes water soft without the use of traditional
water softening equipment. Your laundry detergent will go a lot farther.
When you first switch to a Water Energy Ozone Standard, unless you have
brand new linens, you will have suds whether or not you add any soap for the
next 4 or 5 times you wash them. There is so much residual soap and
chemicals that you will be amazed at how many suds you get without adding
any soap! This should clearly illustrate just how much soap remains in your
linens with traditional laundering methods. Switch to ozone and greatly
reduce the amount of chemicals needed to provide superior results. Stop all
those chemicals from getting on your guests or patients. The linens smell
and feel like new instead of having that 'odd' smell and scratchy feel
characteristic of towels in a hotel or hospital.
Green Wastewater
Typical laundry produces wastewater that is
high in BOD (biological oxygen demand - food for bacteria) high in COD
(chemical oxygen demand) and low in DO (dissolved oxygen). This is to be
expected with the nature of the soil and chemical contaminants found on
dirty linen. The soil consists of body oils and other secretions, food and
other organic waste, organic stains like blood and grass stains, etc.
Chemicals found in a laundry's wastewater include the strong alkali
described above, hefty amount of chlorine bleach, lots of detergent, acid,
fragrances, softeners, and more. All of this adds up to mean the wastewater
coming from a typical laundry is not very nice. The high BOD, COD and low DO
are all counter-productive to what they are trying to accomplish down at the
local wastewater treatment plant. They are trying to lower the BOD and COD
and raise the DO so when they discharge the water, it won't damage the
receiving stream's water habitat. Or put more simply, it won't kill the
fish! The negative factors of a laundry's wastewater (BOD and COD) support
the growth of algae in rivers which consumes all of the dissolved oxygen
(DO) and thereby suffocates the fish. Who would have known! So, laundries
must go to expensive measures to 'buffer' their wastewater and reduce its
negative aspects before releasing it to the sewer. If they don't, in some
cases the laundry owner can be charged additional fees by the sewer provider
or fined for unacceptable wastewater discharge. Some companies pay a lot of
money in fines or impact fees because of their poor quality wastewater.
With a Water Energy ozone standard in your laundry, the ozone replaces most
of the chemicals needed to provide a superior finished product. Ozone, being
made purely of oxygen, first oxidizes and destroys odors, stains, bacteria,
viruses, parasites, cysts, oils and greases and reduces them to carbon
dioxide, inert material and water. Think about it, all organic substances
are made of long-chain carbon molecules. Stains, odors, living organisms,
oils etc. are all made of these molecules. Water with high concentrations of
dissolved ozone is full of Hydroxyl Radicals and on contact, they clip the
molecules and instantly attach to the Carbon to form something else, the
most of which is CO2 or Carbon Dioxide gas. This Carbon Dioxide gas floats
harmlessly into the air - the same gas that comes out of a newly-opened soda
or out of your mouth when you breathe. What is left is certainly not a stain
or odor or living organism.
These Hydroxyl Radicals are OH molecules that have an insatiable desire to
bond with something else. Each time they do, they are delivering oxygen to
the material that creates the BOD (biological oxygen demand) and
neutralizing the oxygen demand. What a win-win situation. The OH is happy
and now the wastewater people are happy. Also, any remaining ozone, oxygen
or OH molecules after all the work is done simply raise the DO (dissolved
oxygen) content in the water. Wow, that's a win-win-win situation there and
the fact that this is all superlatively green in nature (adding oxygen to
the environment instead of who knows what chemicals) you've got a
win-win-win-win situation!!! There aren't too many of those in this Old
World these days. Now that you've eliminated the BOD & COD and raised
the DO, your laundry wastewater will actually benefit the process down at
the local wastewater treatment plant.
Green Air
Eliminating Chlorine and other harmful
chemicals and reducing the amount of detergent used to process your linens
will greatly improve the air quality in and around your laundry facility.
Eliminating the use of Chlorine means the elimination of huge amounts of
VOC's coming from your laundry! No more acid and greatly reduced alkali
means your linens will last much longer and not shed as much lint in the
dryers. This will greatly reduce the amount of airborne particles coming
from your dryer vents which will greatly reduce the volume of particulates
in the air. Particulates are a major source of pollution that pervades our
environment today. You won't be able to see the improvement to your air
quality but knowing you aren't discharging the typical load of
environmentally hazardous chemicals to the air will give you peace of mind
and much cleaner air.
Greatly Extend The Life Of
Valuable Linens
Reap huge savings by extending the life of your
valuable linens from 2 to 7 times. A Water Energy Ozone Laundry Standard
will greatly extend the life of your valuable linens by eliminating the
harsh chemical treatments found in traditional wash chemistry. Ozone very
effectively oxidizes soil, oils & greases, bacteria, viruses and other
contaminants in your linens without the need to subject them to the typical
hellish mixture of chemicals in the washer. A pH of 11+ is enough to cause
permanent injury to your eyes, skin, hair, etc. so you can imagine what it
is doing to your fabric. Huge swings in pH cause untold wear and tear on
your expensive linens. Very high pH causes fibers to swell unnaturally which
leads to cracks in the fibers themselves. These cracked fibers shatter and
are carried away by your dryer. Your expensive linens are being reduced to
fuzz every time you wash them.
With ozone, your pH stays near neutral and that's exactly what your body is
and your linens are - neutral. By eliminating all of the harsh chemicals in
the wash, you eliminate the harsh residue in the finished product. In
laundry, you never actually get everything out in the rinse. A rinse simply
serves to dilute the contaminants. When you add a lot of alkali and then
acid to neutralize it, that doesn't mean it just disappears, actually it
creates a mineral salt that remains in the fabric. The rinse cycle only
reduces the concentration of this residue, it does not eliminate it. These
residual salts are made up of crystals deposited in the fabric and their
sharp edges accelerate the destruction of your valuable fabrics during the
drying process. This mineral salt also remains in the towels and sheets
after drying and ends up on your body when you use them. Most of us don't
stay in bed long enough for the mineral salts to cause any real damage to
our skin but bed-ridden patients in Nursing Homes and Hospitals are subject
to skin eruptions, boils and other skin ailments that lead to bed sores and
have a negative impact on their overall health. When you adopt a Water
Energy Ozone Laundry Standard, you truly eliminate the chemical residues in
the finished product because you've eliminated the chemicals altogether.
Superior Finished Product, No
Chemical Residues
Your linens will feel and smell fantastic! With
all the focus on comfy bedding in hotel rooms these days, why wouldn't you
want the outdoor-fresh smell of linens processed in a laundry with a Water
Energy Ozone Standard? Stop producing flat, crusty-feeling towels with
chemical-smelling residues in your laundry. Ozone is 100% natural and it's
Nature's way of cleaning the Earth. Why not insist on it in YOUR laundry?
Towels laundered with ozone will be 30 to 50% fluffier. This is because all
of the chemical residues that tend to make fibers stick together are
eliminated Of course that means you will need more space to store and
distribute linens but the bottom line is that your guests will have much
fluffier towels to wipe their faces and other body parts with and that will
be a better experience for them. Soon, customers are going to demand linens
of this quality and greenness. Converting to a Water Energy Ozone Laundry
Standard now will put you ahead of the curve and the competition when your
guests realize your high-quality linens are the product of an extremely
'green' laundry practice you have adopted in your laundry.
Wash-Cycle Time Reduction =
Increased Production (10% - 45%)
The ozone washing system can, almost without
exception, reduce the wash-formula time of any laundry facility. In most
cases 25%-30% of wash time is spent rinsing or filling and draining the
washer while different chemistry is being applied to the linen. Because
ozone requires fewer products (and less of the ones that it uses) than does
traditional laundering to achieve similar results, wash times can be
shortened. This enables facilities to increase the production of the
washers. It also increases the useful washer life and reduces the electric
energy necessary to produce similar volume.
Shorter Drying Times
Ozone laundry boosts extract efficiency and
lowers water retention. Less water in the linens going to the dryers means
it takes less time to dry them. This adds up to a huge savings in labor and
energy. Water hardness is most often caused by Calcium and Magnesium being
dissolved in the water. These dissolved minerals along with Chlorine and
other chemicals present in tap water and chemicals used on linens to
increase their sheen and to repel soil all cause fabrics to be Hydrophobic.
This means they repel water. That's not a good thing when you need to wash
them using water. Chemical companies have developed detergents using
powerful wetting agents that work well in water having these natural
disadvantages. These chemicals cause fabric to act like a water magnet.
Although these chemicals have worked well to improve the quality of textile
care, they cause more water to be retained in the linen after extraction.
More water in the linen means more time and energy are required to dry them.
Dissolved ozone in your wash will eliminate the need for wetting agents and
greatly reduce the amount of chemicals you must use. Dissolved ozone acts
like a water softener because it breaks surface tension on water. This
neutralizes the tendency for water to bead instead of penetrating cloth.
This softening effect boosts chemical performance and reduces chemical
demand. Ozone also oxidizes or hydrolyzes Calcium and Magnesium which
greatly reduces their hardening effect on the water. This greatly boosts
chemical performance and reduces chemical demand. (This also greatly reduces
the accumulation of minerals in linen which causes them to look dull and
dingy over time) Ozone also neutralizes Chlorine and its water-hardening
effects. This boosts chemical performance and reduces chemical demand. Fewer
chemicals, softer water and no wetting agents mean better rinsing and more
efficient extraction. More efficient extraction means less water remaining
in the linens. All together this means measurably shorter drying times for
your linens and a big savings on labor and energy when you switch to an
ozone standard.
Commercial washing machines for years have offered a spin or extract cycle
with about a 110 g's of force to extract the water in the linen before
sending them to the dryer. As we are so used to in Today's World, things get
better over time. Modern washers can provide 350 g's of extraction force and
more. This is such an incredible amount of force that it can get your
remaining water weight down below 40%. With ozone, the same force can get
your water weight down below 20%. Below 20% is better because it gives you
the least amount of water to evaporate in the dryers. Your sheets can go
directly to the ironer without pre-conditioning first in the dryer - saving
more energy. Usually sheets need to go into the dryer for a few minutes to
remove enough of the remaining water so they dry thoroughly in an ironer.
Water Energy Ozone Laundry Systems deliver all of these drying advantages
saving you substantially on labor and energy. It takes 2,000 Btu's to
evaporate one pound of water from linens. Most linens coming out of a slow
speed extract washer using traditional chemicals will retain at least 80% or
more water weight. That means 100 pounds of linens will have at least 80
pounds of water in them. That means your dryer will need to consume a
minimum of 160,000 Btu's of energy to get them dry. With a high-speed
extract machine using the proper chemicals and ozone you can get out a lot
more water. Your remaining water weight would be down around30% which would
mean that you would need only 60,000 Btu's or a little more than 1/3 of the
energy required in the typical scenario to get your linens dry. Even using
ozone with slow-speed extract machines will allow you to reduce your
remaining moisture content.
A dryer cycle that is typically 45-55 minutes can be reduced to 27-33
minutes simply by reducing the remaining water weight (water retention) by
1/3. A reduction of 2/3 in water retention would shorten this cycle to below
20 minutes. You can clearly see how a reduction in water weight in linens
coming from a washer/extractor will greatly reduce the amount of time and
energy required to dry them. A Water Energy Green Laundry System will cut
your moisture retention by as much as 75% depending on your laundry's
current level of modernization. That's what building a green laundry is all
about.
Extension Of Linen Life (25% -
50%)
Degradation of the textile traditionally takes
place (1) during routine use; (2) in the wash wheel, where hot water and a
variety of caustic chemicals abrade the fabric in the soil removal process;
and (3) in the dryer or ironer, where high heat further degrades the
textile, especially if there are residual chemicals, such as bleach or
alkali, left over after the rinsing process is complete. While ozone washing
cannot affect the level of linen degradation that takes place during normal
use, it does reduce degradation in the wash wheel and drying processes by
curtailing the chemicals placed in the wash wheel and by decreasing the
water temperature. Eliminating chemical residue allows more of the water to
be released from the fabric in the spin (extraction) cycle of the washer. By
reducing retained moisture, the system dries the linen faster at the same
temperature (time savings) or at a lower temperature in the same amount of
time (energy savings). Specifically, the linen exhibits less chemical
residue in the cross-hatching of the textile weave, permitting hot air in
the dryer to pass virtually unimpeded through the fabric. Independent
laboratory tests on 40 washings in an ozone-processed, heavy-soil formula
versus 40 traditional washings have resulted in a more than 50% reduction in
fabric degradation.
Huge Labor Savings
Labor is arguably one of if not the most
expensive component of any operation including commercial laundry. Many
advances have been made over the years in automation technology to speed up
a laundry's production rate and reduce the amount of labor required. A Water
Energy Ozone Laundry System when integrated properly can drastically reduce
the amount of labor required to process linens as compared to traditional
methods.
Ozone laundry wash cycles are measurably shorter than traditional wash
cycles due to the fact that some of the old, necessary steps in the wash
process have been eliminated. This advantage is more thoroughly detailed in
the 'Shorter Wash Cycles' and 'Reduced Water Footprint' sections. This
reduction in wash cycle times accelerates the work flow and production rate
which translates to a savings on labor. The faster you can complete the
day's production requirements, the less hours of labor you will need to do
it. Water Energy Laundry Consulting and Design relies on its vast experience
to specify exactly how to build a laundry facility. Many things must be
considered to design a plant that will deliver peak efficiency. One of the
most important factors to consider is the orientation and placement of every
piece of equipment relative to the rest of the equipment in the laundry. A
properly arranged laundry plant will always deliver the highest and most
efficient throughput. High efficiency in a laundry will serve to increase
PPOH or Pounds per operator hour. PPOH is one of the most important
statistics you can calculate for your laundry facility. This value
represents just how much linen each operator can do each hour. You take the
volume of linen processed, divided by the number of hours needed to process
it divided by the number of employees you have doing the work. The higher
the number, the higher efficiency you have in your laundry. The higher the
number, the lower your labor cost is. PPOH is absolutely a function of how
well your laundry is designed. You want employees to be able to accomplish
the work with the least amount of movement to do it. This is achieved by
strategic placement of the laundry equipment within the laundry and this is
achieved by having many years of experience with how to design a laundry for
optimum efficiency.
No matter how efficient your equipment is and how much energy you eliminate
from the process, your biggest savings by far will always come from reducing
the number of hours or amount of labor needed to process your linens. That
is a very hard fact. We all know how modern advances help to reduce the
amount of labor required to deliver a product. Better equipment and computer
controls have enabled companies to provide higher quality products and
services with less and less labor. Your laundry is not any different. Labor
is your most expensive component.
Non-Invasive Installation
Water Energy Ozone Laundry Systems only connect
to the existing water lines going to your washers. Our equipment can be
installed next to the washers or in the next room if need be. We will never
drill a hole into one of your washers or connect to any other piece of
equipment in your laundry with one of our ozone laundry systems. There will
be no recirculating pumps, lint screens or shock-hazard contraptions sitting
behind your washers because we don't need them. Our systems deliver active,
dissolved ozone to the wash wheel in concentrations of 1.5 to 3ppm and
higher where it begins to work immediately. Water treatment is the backbone
of the ozone laundry process. The objective is to get the proper dose of
dissolved ozone to the wash wheel when needed - at the beginning of the wash
cycle. Our ozone laundry systems' primary role is to produce water with a
high level of dissolved ozone and have enough of it available at all times
to satisfy washer demands. A washer properly outfitted for use with a Water
Energy Green Laundry System will have 3 water inlets. One of them
specifically for the water with dissolved ozone. When the washer needs more
ozone, it opens the valve connected to the ozone laundry system. You teach
the washer how to do this when you create the wash programs. This separation
of equipment and the laundry room can save floor space in tight laundries
and it can give you added security if your laundry is run by people you want
to keep away from the ozone equipment.
Green Chemical
Ozone is truly a green laundry chemical. Ozone
is a clean gas made entirely of pure oxygen which is available all around
us. You won't have to store large amounts of hazardous chemicals on site at
your facility any more. Big reservoirs of Chlorine, Alkali and Acid are no
longer needed because ozone will be doing most of the dirty work. The
detergent you use should be a biodegradable surfactant that will easily
break down in the environment or can be easily removed by our water reuse
system. The use of our ozone laundry system will cause your wastewater
quality to go up a million-fold and every living creature on the Planet will
be better off for it. High concentrations of dissolved ozone will lead to
the creation of Hydroxyl Radicals or OH molecules at a pH as low as 8
instead of the astronomically high 11 normally seen in traditional
laundering methods. This fact is the Holy Grail of laundry wastewater
treatment. You get an equal or greater amount of cleaning power as with the
traditional soup of caustic chemicals without all the chemicals! You only
need a tiny bit of alkali to increase the pH enough to create an OH molecule
and get your linen clean.