Rip Rice History in Ozone Laundering

Or -- How I was dragged into this arena of gladiators, kicking and screaming

Rip G. RiceApril 7, 2011

CWT EcoTex Conference

Early 1990s

Approached by several firms, not known in ozone, with concept – ozone in laundering

I was dead set against it – because People approaching me knew too little about ozone Had not considered effects of ozone on equipment and

materials (German ozone pool folks had learned never to pass O3-

containing water through Cu piping) Their ozone equipment was unknown and untried One firm was touting UV generation of Ozone as a

magic potion for commercial laundering systems

In spite of my reservations

Progress was being made Someone sold the Dept of Energy on funding

ozone laundering tests in a prison Rumors surfaced in the absence of published

data on this and other projects Some rumors said ozone was a huge success Other rumors said ozone was an abject failure It was as confusing as OGL* in Libya

* Our Glorious Leader

Time Passed

Early 2000s – Cam asked: “Ripper – what do you know about ozone

for commercial laundering?” Answer: “Not much good; unclear results” More time passed About 2005, Cam asked me to write a

white paper on ozone laundering Put me in contact with JLA, Ltd. for info

JLA’s Background

A UK full-service laundry firm, had became interested in ozone for laundering,

Primarily because superbugs MRSA and C. difficile were being found in hospitals & health-care facilities & being identified as new public health problem microorganisms

Ozone might cope with these critters JLA had been doing testing since mid-late 1990s

– mainly on how to “compatabilize” ozone with a commercial laundry machine

More JLA Developments

Major problem was how best to add ozone -- Injectors or bubble diffusion ?? Daniels Equipment had developed a bubble

diffuser for laundry systems JLA chose the Daniels diffuser, then began

serious and multiple evaluations of the JLA OTEX system in early 2000s

Determined ozone laundering effects on microorganisms and on linens in hospitals and health care laundry facilities

JLA-Sponsored Testing

Many test programs conducted by 3rd party organizations – (Microsearch Labs, academia)

Initial tests involved the “usual suspect” microorganisms – E. coli, Pseudomonas, viruses, etc.

What are the proper ozone laundering conditions for what types of linens, etc. to nail these boogers to their crosses?

What are the comparative costs with ozone?

JLA-Sponsored Testing-2

Having established optimum laundering conditions for linens, then for linens plus microorganisms,

JLA next sponsored tests involving MRSA and C. difficile, in microanalytical labs first, then in academia, then in hospitals.

All this information was made available to me in 2005, and out came the White Paper requested by Cam –

“Ozone (1) saves about half the laundering costs of conventional laundering and (2) eradicates superbugs” – no surprise to us ozonatics !

The Early 2006 White Paper

Rice knew going in that Cam wanted a “brief” paper

Cam knew that Rice is incapable of writing a brief paper

What Cam got was a detailed report, with supporting data that ended with :

“The Queen Elizabeth II Hospital tested ozone laundering for 6 months, then installed it for keeps (full-scale) in Dec. 2005”

Cam also got my recommendation to consider writing an Ozone Laundry Handbook

The Rice OLH Recommendation

In early 2006 Cam cogitated, then decided “No handbook at this time” CWT was having a hard enough time

selling ozone in the States on cost benefitsNobody in the States had even heard of

Superbugs – unless they had been hospitalized in Europe.

That turned to be an omnipotent decision.

White Paper to OS&E

Rice proposed that the White Paper could form the basis of a manuscript for submission to Ozone: Science & Engineering

OS&E is the peer-reviewed Journal of the IOA

A manuscript was written, submitted, was accepted, and published [29(2):85-99, 2006]

2006 OS&E Paper

“Ozone in the Laundry Industry – Practical Experiences in the United Kingdom”

by : Dick Cardis (JLA), Cameron Tapp, Marc DeBrum & Rip G. Rice

Also presented at the 2006 IOA-PAG Conference (Arlington, TX).

Was one of the best attended papers – standing room only in a multiple session

Post-White Paper Events

2006 – Cam bought me a beer and said “thanks” Years passed – 2.5 to be exact Early 2009 – Cam called: “I think I’m ready to support an Ozone Laundry

Handbook” “I’d like to have a 20-25 page document for

handout” “Cam – I’ve got to write the full story before I can

figure out how to condense it to 25 pages.”

The Ozone Laundry Handbook

We had hoped to have the OLH completed by the end of 2009

Then we hoped to complete it by 2010 It was completed in March 2011 Meantime – the IOA held a World Congress in

Japan in Sept. 2009 That would be an ideal time to spread the word

about ozone laundering to Japan So we submitted four papers to IOA

Four Papers for Japan

“The Ozone Laundry Handbook”, Rice, DeBrum, Cardis & Tapp

“Economic and Environmental Benefits of Ozone Laundering”, Rice, DeBrum, Jacqueline Hook (JLA), Cardis, Tapp

“Microbiological Benefits of Ozone Laundering”, Rice, DeBrum, Hook, Cardis, Tapp

“Quantification of the Microbiological Efficacy of the JLA Ltd Ozone Diffusion Laundering System”, Kyle Allison (MGS Labs), Hook, Cardis & Rice

Four Papers Given in Japan

All four papers were accepted and published in OS&E – last issue of 2009

Contained much updating information, especially on Microbiological Benefits

Gave the same four (updated) papers at IOA-PAG, Bellevue, WA, Sept. 2010

Updated with UK approval of OTEX Will repeat the four papers at IOA-IUVA

World Congress in Paris, May 2011

OLH – Pregnancy & Labor Pains

Rice is not a laundry expert, but he does know ozone technologies

If someone tells me what he/she wants to do with ozone (such as in laundering), and defines all the parameters involved,

I can advise whether that idea will/will not fly technically.

Marc and I have gone ‘round and ‘round on laundry chemistries while assembling the OLH.

Bottom Line: we are proud of our product! And we hope it will be valuable to its readers.

Materials Produced

Hard bound book: “The Ozone Laundry Handbook”, Rice, DeBrum, Cardis & Tapp (2011)

OS&E paper: “The Ozone Laundry Handbook”, Rice, DeBrum, Cardis, & Tapp (2009)

OS&E paper: “Economic and Environmental Benefits of Ozone Laundering”, Rice, DeBrum, Jacqueline Hook (JLA), Cardis, Tapp (2009)

OS&E paper: “Microbiological Benefits of Ozone Laundering”, Rice, DeBrum, Hook, Cardis, Tapp (2009)

OS&E paper: “Quantification of the Microbiological Efficacy of the JLA Ltd Ozone Diffusion Laundering System”, Kyle Allison (MGS Labs), Hook, Cardis & Rice (2009)

OS&E paper: “Ozone in the Laundry Industry – Practical Experiences in the United Kingdom”, Cardis, Tapp, DeBrum & Rice (2007)

UNESCO Encyclopedia chapter: “Ozone in the Laundry Industry – Practical Experiences in the UK”, Rice, Cardis & Hook (2011)

NAILM Paper: “Eradicating MRSA and C. difficile in Care Home Linens”, Rice and Gerace (2007)

Multitudinous PPT Presentations

Summary

Rice has developed 12-18 PPTs on ozone laundering

Presented 13 times in Texas, Seattle, and two foreign countries

Written 5 peer-reviewed OS&E papersOne chapter in a UNESCO EncyclopediaCo-authored: Ozone Laundry Handbook

Who Ever Thought Doing Laundry Could Be So Interesting?