Warm water washes machines
At LinköpingUniversity, so-called ultra-clean water is being tested — with success — as a new environmentally-friendly method of washing oily machine parts.
Dirty and oily machine parts are soaked and rinsed in 20-degree water, and get just as clean as those washed with detergent. This is taking place in one of the ProEnviro research programme´s projects. “The tests that have been carried out thus far indicate that it works," says Petra Hammarstedt, CEO for the cleaning company Servicestaden in Linköping to the magazine Ny Teknik. Servicestaden has used ultra-clean water for several years to clean building facades. Normal tap water is de-ionized and filtered so that it is completely free of salt, minerals and metals. Even free gases such as oxygen and nitrogen are removed. This is what gives the water its cleaning effect. Aggressive water
“The water becomes aggressive and acts as a detergent," says Petra Hammarstedt. In collaboration with Linköping University and with just over three million Swedish crowns in research funding from Mistra´s and The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Researchs research programme ProEnviro, Servicestaden has now built a first test facility for cleaning machine parts. This fall, parts that require surface treatment will be tested in the new washing process. The goal is to save both energy and chemicals.
With the help of post-wash filtering it will be possible to release water from the washing process directly into the sewer. As much as possible of the water will be re-circulated. The secret to the filtering lies in the combination of filters that Servicestaden uses.
