Ozone Laundry Systems - Official Ozone

Ozone Laundry Systems View our Products and Specifications

Our wet ozone washing machines give you several advantages over standard laundry practices. Ozone washing increases textile life, reduces natural gas and energy costs, faster fill rates, shorter wash cycles and even shorter drying times. Whiter, softer, sanitized, fresh smelling and longer lasting linens and clothes results in huge savings!

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Ozone Laundry Systems

Ozone Laundry

Savings & Benefits

Get the most out of your Laundry Systems with Savings & Benefits  More

Saftety Read the Ozone Safety guidelines for Ozone in the workplace. Get the Safety Facts  More

Technology OLS uses Ozone Technology to use in your Laundry Systems  More

OLS™ Technological Comparisons

All processes are not created equal! Just because you've made Ozone, doesn't mean you'll get enough into the water and in contact with your linens to do any good.

So ... how do you get Ozone into your water?

Reference: Water Quality Association Reference Manual, Copyright 2004

There are two basic methods:

  • Venturi Injection is considered to be the best method! (Water Quality Association)
    1. -All excess gas is destroyed before entering the wash wheel.
       
  • Bubble Diffuser
    1. 1. This method takes all gases into the wash wheel, which destroys the washer.
    2. 2. Requires 46 feet of water column to achieve the same result as Venturi Injection.
    3. 3. Requires 10-20 feet to optimize transfer of Ozone.
    4. 4. Tunnel washers and conventional washers have a maximum of 3 feet of water in the cylinder. This is why Ozone is not best-transfered by a Bubble Diffuser

Ozone in the Water (Venturi Injection)

  • Ozone Laundry Systems consist of:
    1. 1. Oxygen concentrator
    2. 2. Ozone generator
    3. 3. Ozone filter and destruction device
    4. 4. Ozone safety monitor
    5. 5. May or may not contain a storage tank
    6. 6. May or may not contain a circulation pump
       
  • The O3 gas is injected into the water
     
  • Tank Technology:
    1. -Ozone gas is generated and injected in the water, into the tank, then piped into an array of washing machines.

Technology

Ozone Technology, read our story as told by our own OZzy Ozone.

Hi, I’m OZzy Ozone.
For years now people have asked, “How does Ozone work in the laundry wash cycle?

Well, let me count the ways!

OLS only hires dissolved ozone gas in microscopic bubble size. Un-dissolved or gas phase ozone has unpredictable reaction rates, creates safety risks, can potentially damage linen or equipment and can’t be sent to a job site in measurable fashion. In short, OLS considers gas phase ozone to be uncontrollable thugs capable of doing more harm than good in a laundry. OLS shows gas phase ozone no mercy. If you aren’t dissolved in the water in micro-bubble form, you are stripped from the water and sent mercilessly to an ozone destroyer.

Pre-Clean the Water

At OLS, my work starts before the wash even begins. Many laundry and ozone experts consulted by OLS over the years feel that OLS gets enhanced linen quality because OLS is washing with cleaner water. Even municipal water supplies can be full of contaminants and various things that can fight against or hinder the laundry chemistry. At OLS, it’s not good enough for me to wait for the wash cycle to begin; they make me go clean the water before it even gets in the washer. Job #1 pre-clean the water. I always have to report first to the ORP monitor so the customer knows how many of us ozone workers are on the job at any given time.

Soil Removal Department

Job #2 In the Soil Removal Department, I start by helping to break the bonds that hold the soils and stains to the linen. This bond is typically organic, specifically body and other oils that hold the soils and stains on the linen.

This is one of my favorite jobs. I just love breaking down organics like body oils. So, after I help pre-clean the water, OLS dissolves me and millions of my microscopic ozone bubble buddies into the cold water washer supply and keeps us there under pressure until we go spraying into the wash wheel and get absorbed right into the linen fibers. This puts us right in the center of the action, right where the hard work has to be done. As soon as the first ozonated gallon of water enters the wash wheel, me and millions of my microscopic ozone bubble buddies start attacking those organic oil bonds. We break the bonds or cut them into smaller pieces that are easier for our laundry chemistry allies to saponify.

Good thing OLS pre-dissolves us in the water and then injects us into the washer, because within a few seconds of starting the soil removal cycle, the break/alkali/built detergent is added raising the ph to 10 or more. We know we only have a short time to attack those organic bonds, but since we are absorbed at the start right into the linen, we get right to the heart of the matter and get the job done.

As the ph rises, we go crazy. High ph converts me and millions of my microscopic ozone bubble buddies into maniacal radicals. We have an immediate hunger attack for carbon chain molecules. In a wild feeding frenzy, Job #3 is to go after every carbon chain we can find. Its fast and furious, and then we welcome our friends from the detergent and mechanical action divisions to take over for a while as the soil removal process continues. (And I don’t want to hear anything about “Why don’t you keep adding ozone during the whole step.” You don’t keep adding other chemicals like detergents or alkalis or bleaches or sours during their whole step, do you? You put in enough to get the job done, you add them once, and you let the reaction take place. There’s no reason for ozone to be treated any differently.)

My microscopic ozone bubble buddies that don’t make it to an organic bond don’t get the day off. As they go from the pre-ozonated pressurized cold water pipe to an non-pressurized washing machine it’s like popping the top of a shaken soda can. So, Job #4 is for us all to come rushing out of solution and work as what we call Club Soda Scrubbers, just like grandma’s favorite stain remover, club soda.

Bleaching Division.

Bleaching is oxidizing, one of my other specialties. The pre-ozonated water fills to start the bleach step and I start Job #5 oxidizing stains not removed during the soil removal/suds step. Although I am one of the world’s great oxidizers, I have to admit I still need help. No matter how I get into the washer, the only way to bleach with ozone alone would be to add so much ozone to the process that it would create massive amounts of ozone off gas. This could be unsafe and potentially lead to equipment and/or linen damage. My bosses at OLS won’t take that chance.

  • Ozone is typically applied in the laundry bleach step at 0.5 to 1.5 parts per million (ppm).
  • Chlorine bleach is typically applied at 50 ppm to 100 ppm.
  • While under certain conditi0ons, ozone can be “3,000 times more reactive” than chlorine bleach, ozone is not 3,000 times more powerful than chlorine bleach, i.e., 1 part of me, O.Z. Ozone, cannot do the work of 100 parts of chlorine. We have to get some bleaching help.

Normally, heat is required to activate chlorine bleach in a short period (i.e. a 6-10 minute bleach cycle). The only way OLS has found to activate the bleach in this short period of time in cold water is have .5 to 1.5 ppm of dissolved ozone. Field test titrations have proven it. This level can only be reached by pre-dissolving ozone in cold water before we go in the washer. Job #6 is to be pre dissolved under pressure in the cold water supply outside the washer and stay in solution long enough to release inside the wash wheel and activate the chlorine bleach. This is heavy lifting and takes me and an army of millions of my microscopic ozone bubble buddies all working at the same time. Continuing to send in smaller amounts over time won’t get it done.

Polishing and Finishing

The soil has been removed and the stains have been bleached. Now it’s important to rinse out the high ph, chlorine and any residual chemistry from the linen.

Job #7 First assignment on Polishing and Finishing is to attack any remaining organic bonds still holding soils or stains in the linen. Job #8 is me and millions of my microscopic ozone bubble buddies have ongoing Club Soda Scrubbing assignments. Job #9 is to deodorize and make sure even the stinkiest linens (e.g. bed pads from nursing homes) come out smelling fresh, like they’ve been laundered and clothesline dried. Job #10 our final assignment is, without any softener, to make the linen soft and fluffy. We do get occasional complaints from customers in this department because sometimes we make the towels so fluffy they run out of places to stack them (true story!).

Savings & Benefits

The system in action: Ozone Laundry Systems inject appropriate levels of ozone into cold water throughout the wash process. Ozone reacts quickly by dividing organic molecules in the water and causing soils to separate from fabric and disintegrate. The oxidization power of ozone then sterilizes and deodorizes more effectively, less expensively and more reliably than other current methods. Ozone then reverts back to its oxygen form, leaving no chemical residual.

Saftey

  • OSHA guidelines for O3 in the workplace are based on time-weighted averages. Ozone levels should never exceed the following average: 0.10 ppm (parts per million) for 8 hours per day exposure. The OSHA website cites several ACGIH (American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists) guidelines for ozone in the workplace:
    0.2 ppm for no more than 2 hours exposure
    0.1 ppm for 8 hours per day exposure doing light work
    0.08 ppm for 8 hours per day exposure doing moderate work
    0.05 ppm for 8 hours per day exposure doing heavy work

Technology

OLS only hires dissolved ozone gas in microscopic bubble size. Un-dissolved or gas phase ozone has unpredictable reaction rates, creates safety risks, can potentially damage linen or equipment and can’t be sent to a job site in measurable fashion. In short, OLS considers gas phase ozone to be uncontrollable thugs capable of doing more harm than good in a laundry. OLS shows gas phase ozone no mercy. If you aren’t dissolved in the water in micro-bubble form, you are stripped from the water and sent mercilessly to an ozone destroyer. Click here to read our story as told by our own OZzy Ozone.