ozone systems

Helping control costs

1 December 2006



Ozone washing systems are beginning to be marketed in the UK. Janet Taylor investigates


Ozone, a form of oxygen, is a powerful oxidant with protective and purifying properties that works at low temperatures and so has potential for the laundry market.

It has been used in wash systems in the USA for around 15 years but such systems have only been available in the UK for around 12 - 18 months. Currently the market has two contenders – JHC with its O-Clean system and JLA with the Otex system.

Ozone systems claim two main benefits, economic and hygienic.

On the first count, it reduces utility costs, saving energy and water due to shorter cycles. It opens up fibres and therefore improves drying efficiency as well.

Exact savings are difficult to quantify but JHC in its brochure quotes averages of 50 - 80% on electricity, 40 - 60% on hot water and 30 - 45% on detergent, and indirect savings of 25 - 35% on gas, 25 - 35% labour and 20 - 30% linen.

JLA’s figures are similar. On its website it quotes typical averages of 60% electric; 35% gas; 80% hot water; 45% total water; 30% labour; 35% detergent, 20% linen, in all cases based on correct wash programs and detergent dosage.

Reduced consumptions also have an environmental benefit.

It is the economic benefits that made the system attractive in the USA, says JLA business development director Dick Cardis. The hotel market, and in particular the no-frills airport hotels, used them to save costs including labour.

The potential for utility costs appealed to his company when it started developing a system on its own account.

Peter Marsh, ceo of JHC, also stresses the economic advantages, an important part of the company’s marketing approach.

“Customers are much more aware of energy costs and those costs are rising all the time and will continue to do so,” says Marsh.

The cleaning is still effective. Ozone is the second most powerful oxidant, says Cardis. It reacts 3,200 times faster than chlorine.

JHC’s O-Clean brochure describes its action. This powerful oxidiser acts on the fatty oils, breaking the bond between dirt and material and the dirt is then removed by the mechanical action of the machine.

But as well having an effect on running costs, it is claimed that ozone systems can also bring higher standards of hygiene.

JLA’s Cardis says that while the company was developing its system it found that ozone was a disinfectant in its own right.

JLA has a large customer-base in the healthcare market, so this was obviously an advantage.

The current Health Service guidelines state that disinfection is achieved by 3minutes at 71C or 10minutes at 65C, plus 8 minutes mixing in both cases.

These guidelines in themselves are often thought to be insufficient, but the care home sector may not always be working to these.

JLA carried out a monitoring programme on 30 sites to find out what cycles were being used.

This found that even nursing homes, which have to deal high incontinence levels, were using disinfection cycles infrequently, says Cardis. He believes that this was partly due to lack of understanding and partly due to the pressure of work which meant quicker cycles were needed.

So the company started working on ozone to disinfect on faster lower cycles. The company’s work was backed by extensive tests and it found that ozone was particularly effective in killing the clostridium difficile spores.

Thermal disinfection at the prescribed temperatures is, points out JLA, insufficient to deal with spores but the Otex system will kill spores at 30 - 40C.

The colder the water , the better ozone works, says Cardis, but some other aspects of the wash may require heat.

The hygiene benefits are a main argument in JHC’s marketing stance. Marsh points out that ozone allows laundries to have a better disinfection system right across the wash than thermal methods in the main. Many items will not be suitable for thermal disinfection nor routinely laundered on a thermal disinfection program.

Since ozone is used on all cycles, he believes that the effectiveness of thermal disinfection is debatable, as in the case of clostridium difficile which is on the increase.

Systems in practice

The ozone system itself is in both cases a separate unit that is installed alongside a washer-extractor. JLA developed its system specifically for its range of commercial and industrial machines. The company will also retrofit the system on these machines if necessary.

It also provides an optional validation unit for those customers that need to prove disinfection.

JHC has a specific package that includes both the system and machine, but it does not insist on customers buying a new machine and its engineers will carry out retrofits on a range of machines. It will also sell or rent the system

The potential applications for these systems is still being tested to some extent.

Care and nursing homes are obvious candidates, but systems are in use in hospitals, and hotels and spas for their economic benefits.

LCN contacted some users for their reaction.

Helen O’Connor is lead nurse infection control with the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust where JLA systems have been installed. She says the Otex system is used to decontaminate microfibre cleaning cloths and mop heads. The trust decided to use this method to improve the volume of items being cleaned, reduce water heating costs and have confidence in its decontamination processes.

Moving to ozone has assisted in efforts to reduce infection as there is now a robust decontamination process for cleaning materials, and the trust has every confidence that this system is effective.

The ozone system represents an additional and complementary step that the trust is taking in fighting healthcare-acquired infections.

It is not the answer in its own right, but plays an important part in the overall efforts being made by the trust and its staff in reducing the number of patients affected by infections while staying in hospital.

One of JHC’s customers is the Champneys resort. According to group project manager Stuart Adolph, systems are installed at each of the four resorts. The first has been operating for around six months and the most recent for around two months.

The company uses large numbers of treatment sheets and towels with more towels being used in the fitness club.

They wanted to be able to increase volumes of items without outsourcing the laundry.

The installation has reduced the cycle time but also the lower temperatures have reduced energy and cycles costs and also the amount and cost of detergent. He also believes the end results are better with softer fluffier towels.

Both JHC and JLA are fairly confident of the future.

Given the economic benefits and the contribution it can make to applications requiring disinfection, the potential market is wide and could include nursing homes hospitals, hotels, and community based applications such as football clubs, vets and stables.

On the down side, the capital cost is relatively high and expert installation is needed.

It is, of course, still relatively young as a technology and its potential in the UK is yet to be fully explored, both in the field and by the supplier market.



OTEX
VALIDATION: JLA can provide a validation unite for its OTEX system for use in applications where disinfection needs not only to be carried out but to be proved



Sunbury Nursing home
HEALTHCARE: (opposite page) The disinfection properties of ozone systems will be of benefit to the care home and nursing home sectors . JHC’s Ozone system is seen here at the Sunbury Nursing Home





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