Laundry Today - The Textile Web

The Textile Web

Textile Web Articiles - Last Updated April 11, 2002


3: Hygienically Clean Linen Using Chlorine Bleach	October 2000
Textile fabrics are an excellent breeding surface for bacteria and microorganisms to grow. It is therefore very important to consider sanitizing or even disinfecting linens to control the infections and viruses that could occur. Clean looking linens without stains are no assurance of hygienically clean fabrics. Good sound laundry formulations should kill bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms.
Textile fabrics are an excellent breeding surface for bacteria and microorganisms to grow. It is therefore very important to consider sanitizing or even disinfecting linens to control the infections and viruses that could occur. Clean looking linens without stains are no assurance of hygienically clean fabrics. Good sound laundry formulations should kill bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms.
Chlorine bleach is one of the very best sanitizers and disinfectants available for laundering fabrics. It has been well documented that chlorine bleach destroys bacteria and viruses at the proper concentrations. I believe that chlorine is the most cost-effective way to accomplish the task of hygienically clean linens. Other bleaching agents such as oxygen bleaches are not nearly as strong of an oxidizer; therefore they require more time and higher concentrations, along with special formula conditions. Generally, oxygen bleaches are not as good of astain remover and whitener of linens.
I consider the main purposes of the bleach operation in every wash formula to be the removal of stains remaining after a proper wash step and to make the wash hygienically clean. Proper procedures should be followed in order to achieve both of these aspects of a chlorine bleach bath. First you must control the temperature of the bath before adding the chlorine bleach. Never add the bleach on top of linens without water and never add the bleach when steaming the bath.

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Rich Fitzmorris is Vice President for the Laundry Division of Sunburst Chemicals. He has been with Sunburst for more than 25 years and can be contacted directly via email at

rfitzmorris@sunburstchemicals.com


4: With Autumn and Winter Comes Static Electricity	November 2000
The summer months offer relief from the monster called static electricity. But the coming of winter will bring the “shocking” return of static to our laundries. If we understand the cause and some possible solutions, a laundry operation can eliminate most, if not all, the sparks that fly with linen static.
During the winter months most of the country experiences low moisture and relative humidity. It is under these conditions that the highest degree of static electricity in laundries is experienced.
Static electricity is simply the accumulation of electrical charges on a limited area. These charges are atoms having a concentration of positive charges in the center and an equal amount of rotating negatively charged particles. When two different materials come into contact and then become separated, one will contain more electrons than the other – this is how static electricity is generated.
It’s during the drying operation that static electricity develops. When the linens become dry, there is no moisture to bleed the charge away from the linens. That’s when we experience fabrics sticking, or the clingingof the dried items, and of course static shock. Remember that natural fibers such as cotton are generally not as bad as synthetic materials for generating static shock. This is because of their ability to hold enough moisture, and therefore, bleed off the charge before it develops.
Simple Remedies
First, don’t over-dry the fabrics. This Is the simplest way to reduce the static attack on the laundry personnel. By having the polyester and synthetic linens come out of the dryer slightly damp on the hems, moisture can be afriend.
Second, the use of an anti-static compound can, in most cases, help to reduce static because they cause the static to discharge during the drying process. These compounds are generally cationic detergents, which equalize the negative charges. There is one drawback to using anti-static products or even softeners on polyester and synthetic goods, and that is that they can lock in many types of stains and make their removal very difficult.
Third, and in my opinion the most effective way of combating static, is the best neutralizer of electricity known – the earth! The earth provides a ground for every charge, negative or positive. By grounding the drying equipment properly, the static is simply discharged into the ground. A properly installed copper wire from the dryer frame to a copper rod driven deep into the ground does the trick!

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