Currently, industry uses excessive water, power and additives for cleaning. For example, it can take up to 100 tonnes of water to produce 1 tonne of clean wool after shearing. Many industrial processes also generate large quantities of contaminated run-off, and purifying it can be costly.
The new nozzle generates bubbles and ultrasound, which travel down the water stream to the dirty surface where the bubbles act as microscopic ‘smart scrubbers’, seeking and entering crevices to remove dirt using shear forces. It uses less water and power than the equivalent pressure washer (approximately 2 litres/minute compared to 20 litres/minute and less than 200 W compared to 2kW). It is also less damaging as the stream pressure is less that 1/100th that of a pressure washer. Another advantage is that it generates far less runoff and aerosol. As it is able to use cold water, energy is saved on heating water.
Licences for the technology have been negotiated with a number of companies to explore cleaning products for hospital hygiene, dentistry, food preparation, manufacturing and the power industries.
