Self-service laundry chemistry
Chemistry for self-service laundries: detergents and softeners that public washing machines dose automatically in each wash, without the customer adding them.
In a self-service laundry, each washing machine is connected to dosing pumps that draw the product from jerrycans or bag-in-box containers and inject it at the appropriate point in the programme: the detergent in the wash and the fabric softener in the final rinse. The customer does not choose the product, so it has to work with very varied laundry, in short programmes and at moderate temperatures. That is why liquid detergents with enzymes are used, which act on organic stains without the need for very hot water. The dose is adjusted according to the local water hardness and reviewed when programmes or machines change.
Chemicals usually account for between 8 and 15 % of a self-service laundry's turnover, so well-calibrated dosing affects both the wash result and the cost per wash.
Instaquim products for self-service laundries, according to their technical data sheet:
- Eco Wash (pH 8.5–9.0; about 40 °C; EU Ecolabel ES-CAT/039/002): concentrated enzymatic detergent, dosed according to water hardness; it is combined with the fabric softener Eco Soft, which holds the same Ecolabel licence.
- Biogold and Biogold Q (5–10 g/kg of dry laundry; about 40 °C): enzymatic detergents; Biogold Q is suitable for laundries with two dosing units.
- Pink Soft and Power Soft + (5–10 g/kg of dry laundry, in the final rinse): fabric softeners; Power Soft + contains fragrance microcapsules.
- Hipo Soft (5–10 g/kg of dry laundry): fabric softener without preservatives or colourants, with a low-allergen perfume.