Business reporter Padraig Belton Technology

As water shortages become more common worldwide, the laundry industry is under pressure to reduce the consumption of this precious resource and minimize its impact on the environment.

When Charl de Beer, a native of Johannesburg, moved back to South Africa, he founded a company to rent out freshly washed sheets to 18,000 Airbnb hosts in Cape Town.

But then Cape Town experienced a water shortage crisis that threatened his business-his water bill quadrupled in a year.

"If you are a business, it will be catastrophic," he said.

Fortunately, he discovered a new technology—substituting polymer beads for water—which can obviously reduce laundry water consumption by as much as 80%.

With scientific support from the University of Leeds in the UK, the British technology company Xeros has begun to sell these specially designed washing machines under the name Hydrofinity.

Stephen Birkinshaw, director of the university’s Department of Textile Chemistry, said nylon polymers “have an inherent polarity that attracts stains” and can replace most of the water in the laundry cycle.

After the laundry is placed, the drum will add about 23,000 small recyclable polymer spheres (called XOrbs by the company) with a total weight of about 6 kg, plus a glass of water and detergent.

The ball absorbs the stains, then is collected by the roller, and then stored behind the roller for next use.

Household washing machines use 50% less water than traditional washing machines, while the commercial version uses 70,000 spheres weighing 20 kg, which consumes 80% less water.

Mr. De Beer offered to distribute their washing machines in South Africa so that he could buy them himself.

He said that an industrial-sized 25 kg machine runs 14 cycles per day and can save 2 million liters of water per year.

And "In Cape Town, this saved 177,500 rand (9,641 pounds; 12,547 US dollars)".

Xeros Technology Group CEO Mark Nichols said that washing machine manufacturers can "very, very simply" integrate this technology into their products.

Mr. Nichols said that Xeros is currently working to license its technology to seven global washing machine manufacturers, and its machines are being adopted by hotels in arid countries such as the United Arab Emirates.

Water-intensive industries—such as hotels, hospitals, and caterers who often wash clothes—have been keen to reduce water use for many years.

For example, Mission Linen Supply, a uniform and linen service company based in California, said it saved 141 million gallons of water in 2017 and won the "Water Hero" award from the drought-affected city of Santa Barbara.

The company said that during a busy summer week, the company can handle up to 77,000 kilograms of uniforms, towels and sheets, making water saving a major business and an environmental goal.

Over the years, it has improved the system for recycling and reusing rinsing water, reducing consumption to about half of a typical household washing machine. The company also treats wastewater before returning it to the city's water supply system.

At the same time, other companies are developing methods to wash clothes with almost no water.

For example, consumer goods giant Unilever (Unilever) produced a spray called Day2, which acts like a dry shampoo, designed to refresh clothes lying on the floor and leaning on the back of a chair, but in fact It's not that dirty.

Clare Dolan, CEO of Unilever Day2 and Director of Global Water Innovation, said that it is not suitable for muddy socks, but for shirts, “it absorbs odors, makes fibers soft and smooths out wrinkles. , Let the clothes look new, without washing them.”

She said that a bottle of spray can save 60 liters of water.

The Swiss start-up Dolfi has introduced a device that can use ultrasonic waves to stir a small amount of water and detergent to clean delicate fabrics.

Despite the misleading name, the dry cleaning industry also uses a lot of water—in the form of steam—not to mention potentially carcinogenic substances such as the solvent tetrachloroethylene, or perc for short.

But in the past five years, technological advancements have meant that water and biodegradable detergents and conditioners can clean "dry-clean only" clothes made of wool, silk or suede, the managing director of VClean Life Nick Harris said.

Mr. Harris said that VClean recently opened a "wet washing" factory in Watford, Hertfordshire, "weighing clothes and calculating how much water is needed."

The boiler water used to make steam is recycled.

Mr. Harris said that dry cleaning is more effective under heavy loads, so it is cheaper for a small family dry cleaner to send clothes to a large factory like him than to clean it yourself.

VClean plans to launch 24-hour "pick-up" vending machines throughout London.

Back in Cape Town, tourists became "more and more critical" about whether the places they visited were "good stewards of the environment", Mr. De Beer said.

Therefore, hotels and restaurants that have not found new ways to save water in arid regions may find that their businesses are being recycled.

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