EPIC solutions for reducing wastewater costs from Christeyns

Christeyns, manufacturer of detergents and disinfectants for industrial laundries in Europe and across the world, launches EPIC, an innovative detergent system.  EPIC, Enzymatic Process Innovation by Christeyns, is based on enzyme technology and will allow laundries to reduce their wastewater costs by 25%.

Alain Bostoen, CEO of Christeyns: “Industrial laundries are facing several water challenges: the cost and availability of water, the cost of discharging wastewater and ever-stricter environmental regulations concerning its discharge. With EPIC, we can help laundries meet discharge standards and reduce wastewater costs.”

Surfactants give a detergent its cleaning properties but have a negative impact on wastewater quality. The EPIC detergent system reduces these surfactants by 50 percent replacing them with biological enzymes. This reduces the wastewater load by twenty to thirty per cent, providing substantial savings for laundries.

Enzymes have been used in textile care for many years, their catalytic properties act as an accelerator on certain chemical reactions.  The enzyme mixtures in EPIC are created and dosed to target stain therefore only a low dose of the mixture is needed. In a standard laundry process for hotel linen, two to four grams of detergent are dosed per kilogram of linen. With EPIC, this is reduced to less than 0.9 grams.

These EPIC mixtures are produced on site at the customer’s premises to be dosed precisely and safely, directly into the wash process. Because enzymes are biological in origin and due to the low dosages, the carbon footprint is up to 20% lower compared to a standard washing process.  This is further reduced as both transport and storage requirements are minimized.

“Polluting water as little as possible and reusing it as much as possible are the key objectives in our sustainable water management goals,” states Justin Kerslake, Commercial Director Christeyns UK. “We are excited to offer our customers in the UK this revolutionary new technology, to take them one step further in meeting their sustainable targets.”

This follows the launch last year of HydRO for laundries a joint venture with the Belgian company Veride to help laundries reduce fresh water consumption.