The ABC of filtration for textile care laundries
You are a commercial or industrial laundry, washing big quantities of textiles for health care customers, the hospitality sector or for workwear customers.
What are the most important things you need to know about filtration? In other words, the ABC or the 123?
We would say:
Which dirt will filtration really remove from wash water?
What level/grade of filtration is cost effective for textile care laundries?
Does filtration work for hairs and textile fibres?
Which dirt?
The dirt which is washed out of dirty textiles and which ends up in laundry wash water can include:
Solid dirt particles
Lint
Fibres
Hairs
Microplastics
Bacteria
Viruses
Filtering wash water can remove an important number of the above. But what size of filter will remove which dirt?
What filter size for laundries?
Particle filtration to around 100 microns will remove the solid particles found in laundry wash water, as well as lint, textile fibres and hair.
When required, removing harmful bacteria and viruses from laundry process water is most efficiently done by ensuring washing temperatures of at least 60°C or more. Other options to achieve this include UV, Ozone or chemicals.
Employing more specialist (membrane) filtration to remove even smaller particles, is possible. Micro, nano and ultra filtration will remove increasingly small materials, however at increasing cost and complexity. Reverse osmosis, similar to how human kidneys work, will provide pure water without even any minerals.
For commercial and industrial textile laundries, particle filtration is the most cost-efficient solution for treating water to achieve the right quality for re-use in laundries.
What about hairs and other fibres?
However, the shape of the ‘dirt’ has big implications for the efficiency of particle filtration methods. Removing a solid, roughly round, dirt particle means a straightforward calculation of filter size. Removing a long, pointed textile fibre or hair from water requires a more specialist filtration system. Microfibres (microplastics) generally also fall into the long and pointed category.
Wientjens The Dutch Water Company has decades of experience in water and energy filtration systems for commercial/industrial laundries. Our filter systems are designed to remove not only the dirt but also all those pesky hairs. Our equipment is affordable, practical and hardwearing, ideal for tough laundry conditions. Do browse through our website or contact us to learn more.
