Caromont Health Ozone Laundry System at Gaston Memorial Hospital

1. Caromont Health Ozone Laundry System at Gaston Memorial Hospital Rip G. Rice, James Magnanti & Tom Washbrook April 7, 2011, CWT EcoTex Conference

2. Talk Outline • Savings – Energy, Water, +, + • Improved Laundered Product Qualities • Return-on-Investment • At Gaston Memorial Hospital, Gastonia, NC

3. Caromont Health • A regional, independent, non-profit health care system consisting of : • Gaston Memorial Hospital – 435 beds (1946) • Cancer Center (435 beds) • 96 bed skilled nursing facility • 12-bed in-patient hospice facility • 44 primary & specialty physician offices • Heart Center, surgical suite, neonatal ICU for infants, pre-adolescent psychiatric center

4. Laundry at Gaston Memorial • Washes laundry of 435-bed hospital, + • From all CaroMont Health facilities • 3.2 million lbs/year of laundry • Hospital linens, gowns, bed clothing, pads, mops, washing cloths, mops • All contain types of soils usually found in hospitals and health care facilities

5. Ozone @ Gaston Hospital • CaroMont was led to ozone by the need to replace a 30-yr old aging hot water heater • Asked Texchine Inc to quote a new hot water tank • Then looked for alternatives because of the price and logistics of replacing the old tank • Texchine proposed ozone; ROI estimates favored the ozone approach. • Ozone installed & began operating in July 2010

6. Facilities & Equipment • Four Braun 450-lbs washers (light soils) • Two 125-lbs Continental washers (heavier soils) • 37 loads per day = 10,500 lbs/day laundry • One Eco2 ozone system (8 g/h @ 3%) • Two Eco4 systems (27 g/h @ 6%) • Each ozone generator is connected to two washing machines & fed by Sequal oxygen concentrators.

7. Ozone Monitors • Ambient air monitors serve 3 functions: • (1) Detect any minor ozone leaks • (2) Detect catastrophic ozone leaks • (3) Provide feed-back to ozone generator = “all is well” - keeps operation going • If ozone leaks are detected, generators can be shut down, automatically • Laundry room air is always within OSHA standards – (0.10 TWA, 8 hrs/day; 5 days/week)

8. Gaston Laundry System Schematic

10. EcoTex @ Gaston

11. Cycle Changes Made for Ozone • New set of wash programs created • Most eliminated the need for hot water • Most wash steps reduced rinse cycle times

12. Effects on Consumables • Eight laundering categories • Consumables not changed much • Less alkali needed • Slight increase in detergent • Eliminated need for CO2 to lower pH of combined laundry wastewaters to 9.5 or below (City of Gastonia requirement) • CO2 elimination saves $6,000/year

13. Effects on Washroom Chemistries • Not much change • No additional operating costs as a result of installing ozone • CaroMont is monitoring potential linen replacement savings – need 12 months

15. Washing Formula Comparison Table Shows : • Cycle times lowered by a few minutes, depending on wash category – reflecting elimination of a wash and rinse step • Volume of water used was reduced – except for microfibre mops (deliberately maintained because of soils) • Water heating therms were reduced significantly in all laundering categories

16. Benefits from Ozone Laundering – after 5 months of operating • Cost Savings – calculation of R-O-I • Improved laundered product qualities • Better linen sanitation • Lowered impacts on the environment • Reduced wash room radiant heat • Reduced wash times – allowing increased laundry throughput and redistribution of laundry labor • Lowered rewash rate

17. Cost Savings • Natural Gas – 61% • Fresh Water – 14% • Electricity – 13% • CO2 Eliminated – 100% • Labor & Production savings • Large Summation Table in full paper • R-O-I calculation – 16 months

18. Improved Product Qualities • Improved smell of laundry • Improvement in whiteness appearance • Textile life extension – anticipated – at 12 months • Improved sanitation in linens – expected from JLA test data and UK approval of bubble diffuser ozone laundering

19. United Kingdom Approval • “Basic research and development, validation and recent in use evaluations have shown benefits that should be available to NHS bodies to include as appropriate in their cleaning, hygiene or infection control protocols. • This product is a commercial laundry system that uses ozone in all of the wash cycles • Evidence shows that it is more effective in decontamination than current laundry systems." • September 09; UK Health Protection Agency -- re JLA OTEX Laundry system

20. Lower Environmental Impacts • Chemicals added – little change • Lower volume of laundry wastewaters • Reduced overall carbon footprint • Lowered wastewater pH • Reduced radiant heat in washroom area = lower ambient air temp.; less drainage vapors • Decreased rewash rates – 1.5-2.5%

21. Appendix • Washing formula data for 8 laundry categories -- before and after ozone was installed • Pads, blankets/spreads, new linen, gowns, towels, sheets, microfibre mops, and rewash formulae for stain removal

22. Hot Water Savings • Before ozone - 160°F • After ozone - 56°F

23. Pillow cases on assembly conveyor -- after ozone washing

24. Towels after ozone laundering

25. Laundered blankets discharged from an automatic folder

26. Natural Gas Savings

27. Reductions in water usage

28. Electricity savings after ozone

29. Summary • Ozone installed July 2010 • $46,500/yr savings in utility costs • 1 MM gal/yr of water • Lower wastewater discharge fees • Lowered rewash rate by 1.5% • Washed linens are cleaner/brighter • R-O-I is 16 months • Effect on linen replacement rate – t.b.d.

30. Acknowledgments • Ed Knueve – CWT • Jay Dixon – Texchine Inc. • Juli Watt – CWT • ClearWater Tech for supporting this paper