IWM cold-wash process offers energy savings

An Industrial Washing Machines product story

Edited by the Processingtalk editorial team Jun 25, 2009

Industrial Washing Machines (IWM), working in conjunction with a specialist detergent supplier, has successfully trialled a cold-wash process.

The process, developed by IWM, uses wash water at temperatures close to ambient but delivers results that are said to be indistinguishable from normal high-temperature washing.

In a typical installation, with a machine that runs just 20 hours per week, the process has the potential to cut energy costs by as much as GBP20,000 per year, as well as reducing the environmental impact of washing operations.

To confirm the effectiveness of the cold-wash process, IWM carried out the extensive trials with A F Blakemore: a user of distribution crates for the transport of packaged grocery items and loose vegetables.

Most of the crates selected for the trial had light soiling consisting principally of dust and traffic film, but some had heavy soil deposits.

The crates were washed in one of IWM's twin-lane T1500 machines, which has a capacity of 1,500 crates per hour.

The detergent used was formulated by an IWM specialist chemical partner for use in the cold-wash process.

In all cases, the cold-washing trial produced results that, after carrying out detailed inspections, A F Blakemore's operating personnel confirmed were as good as, or better than, the results obtained with standard detergents at the high temperatures normally used for washing.

After low-temperature washing, the crates were clean, glossy in appearance and almost completely dry.

IWM's cold-wash process works at a nominal wash temperature of 25C.

In practice, this means that minimal heating of the feed water is needed initially, with the temperature of the washing solution subsequently being maintained by heat generated from the machine's pumps.

The process affects neither the throughput nor the capacity of the machines that use it.

It will be offered as standard with all new tray washers from IWM and can also be readily adopted by users of existing IWM tray wash machines.