READING, Pa. — The administration of Berks Heim Nursing and Rehabilitation, a long-term healthcare home here in Berks County, strives to provide the best available treatment and care at the most economical levels of service costs.
When Berks Heim investigated energy- and utility-cost savings as a long-term project for operations and cost reduction, it looked to an energy service company that also provided extra service for its in-house laundry system.
The administration eventually contacted Wet-Tech, a Massachusetts company with a long-term affiliation with energy service companies, and it was decided that Wet-Tech would install an ozone system.
Berks Heim’s 420-bed facility is located in a stand-alone development surrounded by a park-like setting in the Pennsylvania countryside. The home takes an individualized approach to healthcare and quality of life, with the emphasis being on the social, emotional and physical well-being of its residents.
There are some major benefits that can be derived through the application of ozone in a laundry operation, especially when patient/guest care is paramount, according to Wet-Tech.
“I was not a fan of ozone at first, but the cost savings is worth it,” says Steve Valk, who directs Berks Heim’s laundry and environmental services. Though owned by the local municipality, Berks Heim chose to outsource those services to Aramark, and Valk serves as on-site manager.
The laundry is equipped with a six-module tunnel washer, a 450-pound washer-extractor, plus 55-pound and 95-pound washer-extractors for small, general loads.
In the summer of 2010, a total of four ozone generators were installed on the equipment. Although there were four generators involved, Wet-Tech was able to accommodate them in two wall-hung cabinets thanks to their modular design.
The EnviroSaver II’s major thrust was to achieve maximum benefits through the continuous batch washer while producing high volumes of laundry. The application of ozone into the wash water works as a disinfectant comparable to chlorine bleach, according to Wet-Tech.
Wet-Tech uses ozone and chlorine to achieve a high level of “good-quality, clean, disinfected, odor-free linen” in the wash process, the company says. The ozone application in the final bath helps to reduce use of a sour and softener, saving on chemical costs while also providing “chemical-free” linen for patient/guest care.
“Our chemical costs have gone down,” Valk tells American Laundry News, although he didn’t specify to what extent.
By reducing chemical residue in the linen, the laundered goods provide a more comfortable “feel that does not irritate the skin when sleeping on it,” Wet-Tech says. The approach of using chlorine bleach for stain removal and ozone as the antichlor gave Berks Heim the ability to extend linen and ironer pad life “by a significant amount,” the company adds. Further, the lack of chlorine reduced the exposure of goods to the potentially destructive qualities of heated chlorine during drying, thereby extending product life.
Wet-Tech says it worked with the facility’s chemical supplier, Ecolab, to affect changes to Berks Heim’s wash procedures.
The high oxidation power of the ozone enabled the facility to reduce wash temperatures in the continuous batch washer from 170 F to 110 F, Wet-Tech says. With a production level of 12 loads per hour or 90 loads per day (5-minute transfer cycle), that would relate to fuel savings of about 22,968 therms per year.
“I don’t have the statistics, but when you’re washing at 100 degrees instead of 160 degrees, it makes a difference in energy costs,” says Valk.
Installing the ozone system also served to reduce the laundry’s washwater flow by about 25%, which saves roughly 12 gallons per minute, according to Wet-Tech. Using the same 90-loads-per-day throughput, that equates to 5,040 gallons per day or 1.3 million gallons per year.
But the greater benefit of the ozone application, according to Wet-Tech, is the disinfection qualities of the oxidation process.
This disinfection helps to remove the possibilities of cross infection while the linen is being processed. Ozone destroys MRSA as well as other bacteria such as cryptosporidium, E. coli, fecal coli, salmonella and other “challenge organisms,” Wet-Tech says.
The Environmental Protection Agency has determined specific CT values of a product’s disinfection concentration and the timeline for the effectiveness of the bacterial inactivation. As an example, chlorine dioxide at a CT value of 226 with one minute of contact time at 25 C would be required to inactivate cryptosporidium at 99.9%, Wet-Tech says.
To achieve the same inactivation of the same bacteria under the same conditions with ozone would require a CT value of 7.4, the company adds. This process of bacteria kill, along with the oxidizing power of attacking organic and inorganic materials, reduces wastewater contaminants.
Ozone works to eliminate some solids as well as reducing fats, oils and grease (FOG); biological oxygen demands (BOD); and chemical oxygen demands (COD) on the treatment system by reducing these items in the wash.
After five years of the ozone system’s continuous operation, Berks Heim has signed on for yearly service to maintain its performance level.
“Once a year, they come out and do preventative maintenance on it,” says Valk. “That’s it.”
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