Public Funding for Ideal Manufacturing Limited

As a leading manufacturer of professional laundry chemicals, Ideal Manufacturing Limited (IML) is always looking to develop new products and methods which offer superior cleaning, excellent value with minimal environmental impact. We have identified a novel cleaning chemical which promises significant cleaning and sanitation performance. Hitherto, lack of understanding of how this technology interacts with the wash process has limited development. However, we have obtained equipment from another sector which can be applied to this chemical to improve performance in the wash process. IML believe that this new combination will be effective against harmful bacteria, spores and viruses as well as stains. As it is known that these pathogens can survive on fabrics in some cases for days even after a conventional wash, these soiling are potential source for spreading of infection (e.g. NHS or care home linens). Thorough cleaning and disinfection is therefore a key hygiene requirement. Successful application of this chemical for the purposes of laundry sanitation will also yield substantial other benefits, including reduced consumption of energy and water, an increased lifespan of the items being washed and a reduction in the quantity of microfibres released into the environment. This central aim of this project will be to demonstrate that the application of this chemical in aqueous environments can lead to inactivation of viruses and bacteria of clinical significance. Experiments will be conducted to find the optimal method of application for achieving inactivation. Funding for this project will be used to enable experimental work, analyse its findings and apply them to the benchmarks for hygiene the sector demands. The funding will provide salary for staff to carry out these tasks, lab consumables as required and for administration of the project. Additional funding for this project will be used to facilitate the transfer of the knowledge learned through experiment onto customer premises. The funding will enable capital expenditure to purchase prototype machinery and the engagement of an academic partner to facilitate validation of sanitation and ozone concentrations.

To develop a laundry stain identification and removal process using Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy, initially for the commercial laundry sector, with focus on the removal of persistent black marks.