Chemical brothers

3 June 2003



Selecting the right laundry chemicals is crucial for the success of any cleaning business. Not only is it an issue of cost, the right choice of products will ensure superior results, which will keep customers coming back


Today's high performance products promise to deliver more than ever before and include numerous active ingredients, such as enzymes and optical brighteners, that can complicate the selection process even further. The harsh chemicals of old may not have been entirely replaced, but new European directives are forcing manufacturers to adhere to environmental standards and introduce products that are less harmful both to the environment and to the staff that come into contact with them.

Buyers should therefore look for products that are phosphate-free and biodegradable, or multi-functional products that reduce the amount of water wastage. A number of companies also provide auto-dosing systems that are pre-programmed, which can bring about huge savings in both water and product usage as well staff time. We take a look at some of the manufacturers and suppliers and what they have on offer.

Christeyns

Having acquired a number of companies in recent years, Belgian-based soap and detergent manufacturer, Christeyns, has been rationalising its product range over the past 12 months and now offers a selection of its highest performing products from the different product ranges.

According to European marketing manager Charlie Betteridge, the big success story has been the launch of Majestic throughout Europe. This fully built, highly phosphated powder was originally sold in the UK for flatwork and workwear, as a quality low-dosage product for use in powder dosing machines. Having slightly changed the formula, the product has now replaced a large number of other formulations across Europe, offering quality results at lower cost in use.

Part of the success, says Betteridge, has also been in conjunction with Christeyns Sanoxy System washing system for tunnel washers. Now in its second full year on the UK market, it has already been installed on over 60. The spread onto the Continent is now also in full swing with installations taking place almost every week. The system is based around Majestic and its Sanoxy Liquid product, a combined bleach, disinfecting and neutralising agent. Based on peracetic acid the product is manufactured in Christeyns new peracetic facility in Gent, and is built and registered in accordance with the new 98/8/EC biocide directive.

Christeyns continues to offer several other powdered detergents and bulk liquids as well as a full range of auxiliaries such as enzymes, degreasants, liquid starches, and softeners.

As well as the Gent facility, Christeyns has additional manufacturing and R&D facilities in Bradford (UK) and Nantes (France). Further expansion into other countries is planned with technical visits to customers in Austria and Italy already bringing success.

Continental Clip

Continental Clip has been in the laundry business for over 30 years. Trading started in the mid 1960s with the introduction of the famous G clip, the skirt hanger clip familiar to millions of drycleaners. In the 1970s the company was approached by Emery Industries to market Sanitone products throughout the UK. The company now sells both the Sanitone and the Fabritec ranges along with its own-brand Professional range, launched 18 months ago.

Professional is aimed at the economical end of the market and features a standard laundry powder, which combines powerful detergents, colour-safe bleaches and fabric conditioners. It can be used in washes with temperatures between 40C to 80C. The range also features a specialist Duvet detergent with optical brightening technology that can also be used for heavy-soiled work as well as other specialist brightening jobs. Last month a new drycleaning product Professional Soft was added to the range.

Sanitone and Fabritec, meanwhile, cater for the top end of the market. The latest Sanitone products include, Smart Sour, a buffered sour designed for use with its Platinum shirt and laundry detergent. It gives a safe pH on shirts containing acid-pH sensitive dyestuff and helps to preserve fabric life. Also available is a finishing agent called Crisp. A more economical range comes in the form of Fabritec. Its Titanium shirt and laundry detergent has low alkalinity content, low temperature requirements and is environmentally friendly. Continental Clip also supplies the Stamford spotting range, which features a number of wet washing products for difficult stains on delicate fabrics.

EASTERN VALLEY CHEMICALS

Eastern Valley Chemicals claims to be at the forefront of a breakthrough in laundry wash technology. It has taken great interest in developing solutions for the laundry industry via a full range of high quality laundry chemicals. The most interesting products are the new one-shot, fully structured detergent and a high-quality enzyme product, both in liquid form.

Neil Thomas of EVC has developed a "true" one-shot, fully built, caustic liquid that contains 50% caustic soda. The product is fully structured with phosphate and surfactants to replace conventional multi-shot products. EVC feels this liquid has excellent suspension qualities and effective stain removal properties because of its strength of alkali and its structure.

The products are supported by a technical team for process design, technical support and dosing equipment installation. These are provided by time-served engineers and the technical services manager, Paul Kennedy. Paul has 18 years experience as a manager of large laundries in both the health service and commercial sectors and holds Guild qualifications, which he achieved on the management course at the Fabric Care Research Association in 1985-86.

He said: "Eastern Valley Chemicals is in a position to provide a cost effective, efficient, high-quality package to the laundry industry. This will provide the launderer with a partnership that is committed to solving the problems facing the Industry and in turn provide peace of mind."

P&G Professional and Alex Reid

The amount of laundry handled by drycleaners has grown by nearly 10% over the last four years, according to research carried out by P&G Professional, (Procter & Gamble) and Alex Reid. The two companies have therefore formed a marketing alliance to enable drycleaners to expand their professional, on-site laundry services.

P&G Professional offers a wide range of professional variants of household names to the market such as Ariel, Bold, Daz, Lenor and Fairy, along with an auto-dosing system featuring a professional variant of Ariel. There are currently two product options available to drycleaners the Professional Ariel 4 Product System which includes Professional Ariel, Professional Lenor AB Oxygen bleach liquid and Ace A Bleach activator.

The Professional variant of Ariel is said to give a stronger overall cleaning profile with its multi-surfactant formulation. According to P&G Professional, in tests at both 40C and 60C in industrial conditions, the Ariel auto-dosing system has been shown to kill 99.999% of bacteria, including MRSA and YRE, at only 60C after 15 minutes of contact time. Its Ace A bleach is suitable for both white and colourfast linen and optimises the pH levels in the main wash. It can also be used in the pre-wash with Ariel for improved bloodstain removal. The AB Oxygen bleach liquid is a stabilising oxygen bleach that is chlorine-free and offers stain removal with Ariel/Ace A bleach activator at both 60C and 90C.

The products are also offered with P&G Professional's auto dosing system, which has 20 different, tailored pre-set washing capabilities and is compatible with all industrial washing machines. Other innovative products available to drycleaners through Alex Reid include Colour Catch a special dye trapping sheet which can be added to the wash to stop colour runs.

JohnsonDiversey

The merger of Johnson Wax Professional and DiverseyLever last year brought together two of the world's cleaning sector giants. The new company, called JohnsonDiversey, is now the second largest company in the institutional and industrial cleaning market.

As a result, JohnsonDiversey now has coverage across all the major cleaning sectors, ensuring that not only laundries, but also the majority of its customers, from health to hospitality, are likely to be using a JohnsonDiversey product. Integration of the companies commercial laundry business group with its on-premise laundry business has also helped to consolidate the business.

The range of consumer products include some of the biggest brands in the business, such as Persil and Comfort all of which are available to professional users. The backbone of the company's commercial products however is the Clax brand, under which falls a huge range of chemical products, from alkali boosters and de-stainers to main wash detergents.

New innovations this year include Clax Saturn 3GP5, which is a low-temperature powder developed for protein and mineral oil-type soiling. It is effective at 40C and is said to give good results on high visibility garments without the need for an alkaline booster. In the pipeline is a dual liquid system that allows for modular dosing of detergent components to optimise cost and performance with, the company claims, a 5% to 10% cost reduction.

Product and health and safety data sheets for all products are available for customers to download from the website. The company has also introduced a number of energy efficiency products such as the Clax Energo heat recovery system, which utilises waste heat from the plant effluent stream, bringing savings from reduced water and gas consumption and faster calendaring speeds along with its Aquacheck water management tool.

Seitz Chemicals

Seitz was founded in Elberfeld, Germany in 1885 to supply aniline dyes to the textile industry. Over the years it expanded into textile care services, providing chemicals for both laundering and drycleaning along with specialist products for leathers and carpets.

Environmental protection, safety and quality is high on the list of Seitz's priorities, from raw materials through to the finished product and its packaging. Phosphate-free detergents are available for whites and coloured textiles, featuring optical brightening technology, greying inhibitors and wash intensifiers such as its Frankolan range, which is an alkaline liquid detergent. Its popular Mega and Viva ranges feature a variety of detergents and solutions with different features such as the Mega Pur Extra detergent with stain solubilizers, which is chlorine-free and fully biodegradable.

It also offers a range of bleach products under the Oxylan brand, which can be used as a bleaching additive in the majority of washing procedures at temperatures between 40C to 60C. For heavy-duty stain removal, there is the Lispasol range, which is a liquid preparation of enzymes for the removal of blood and albuminous stains and oxidised grease spots. The enzyme contained in Lipasol L, which is obtained from a bacterial culture, is intensified by the detergent ingredients, which, says Seitz, results in much more effective stain removal.

All products are developed in Seitz's own laboratories and every year a large proportion of turnover is reinvested in R&D. Practically everything is done under "one roof" at the company's facility at Kriftel, a small village close to Frankfurt where the company has been located since 1974. All manufacturing, warehousing, packing and shipping as well as administration and distribution is handled there.

The Seitz affiliate company, Seitz Inc, founded in Tampa, Florida, directs business in the US and Canada. Distributors are found in another 68 countries worldwide.
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