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23 November 2021 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Tania Allen
Dr Jana Vermaas and Ketshepileone Matlhoko are working on research that leaves your washing clean and fresh without the use of any detergents, which is also beneficial to the environment.

Cold water or hot water? Omo or Skip? Laundry blues is a reality in most households and when you add stains to the equation, then what was supposed to be part of your weekly household routine, becomes frustrating and time consuming. 

Researchers at the University of the Free State (UFS) are conducting research that is putting a whole new environmentally friendly spin on laundry day.

Sustainability and environmental conservation

Dr Jana Vermaas, Lecturer in the Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development at the UFS, is passionate about textiles and sustainability – almost a decade ago, she conducted a study on the efficacy of anolyte as a disinfectant for textiles.

She describes the process: “During electrochemical activation, a dilute solution of natrium chloride/salt passes through a cylindrical electrolytic cell where the anodic and cathodic chambers are separated. Two separate streams of electrochemically activated water are produced. Anolyte as water was produced at the positive electrode and has a low pH, high oxidation-reduction potential and contains dissolved chloride, oxygen, and hydroxyl radical. It also has an antimicrobial effect.”

The benefits of this process are in line with her enthusiasm for environmental conservation. 

According to Dr Vermaas, the amount of water and chemicals used to clean textile articles is massive. “Chemicals used to disinfect, for example, hospital laundry, are hazardous. Not all laundries in the industry have a closed loop system or try to remove the chemicals before the wastewater is discarded.”

“Different amounts of detergents have various effects on our fauna and flora. Due to their low biodegradability, toxicity, and high absorbance of particles, detergents can reduce the natural water quality, cause pH changes in soil and water, lead to eutrophication (too many nutrients), reduce light transmission, and increase salinity in water sources.”

“But with the catholyte and anolyte process, water returns to its original status, which means that the water solution becomes inactive again after production where it existed in a metastable state while containing many free radicals and a variety of molecules for 48 hours. Thus, no chemicals are left in the wastewater. The water can therefore be recycled, not as potable water but, for example, to flush toilets or to water plants.

“We should do what we can to save water,” she says. 

Should you, like Dr Vermaas, also feel strongly about protecting the environment and want to obtain one of these machines that leaves your washing clean and fresh without the use of any detergents, you will be able to find such an appliance in South Arica. However, it does not come cheap. “It is a bit costly for residential use, but might be more accessible in the future,” states Dr Vermaas, who is of the opinion that it is a more sustainable option for commercial laundries.

Detergency properties and colourfastness 

Recently, more research has been conducted on this topic, but with a focus on the detergency properties of the catholyte to clean different textile fibres (natural and synthetic). Catholyte, she explains, is water produced at the negative electrode with a high pH, low oxidation-reduction potential, containing alkaline minerals. It also has surface active agents that increase the wetting properties, and it is an antioxidant. 

“A master’s student in the department, Ketshepileone Matlhoko, will be submitting her dissertation at the end of November on the possibility of using the catholyte as a scouring agent to clean raw wool,” says Dr Vermaas. 

The department is also conducting studies to investigate the influence of both catholyte and anolyte on colourfastness.

*Graphic: Production of electrolysed water (Nakae and Indaba, 2000). Diagram: Supplied



News Archive

UFS researchers discover the many uses of the cactus pear
2015-02-17

UFS researchers discover the many uses of the cactus pear

For many South Africans, the dry, arid areas in many parts of the country became synonymous with cactus pear growing at random in the natural veld. For some the fruit of a cactus pear, if chilled really well, is a delicious snack on a hot summer’s day. But few actually know that these cacti can be money growing wild in the veld.

For the past 15 years, scientists  at the University of the Free State (UFS) have been looking into the benefits and many uses of the cactus pear. This project  has grown steadily in vision and dimension, and today the UFS is recognised as a world-leading institution in the world conducting multi-disciplinary research on spineless cactus pear.

Dr Maryna de Wit, from the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology, together with Prof Wijnand Swart from the Department of Plant Sciences and Prof HO de Waal from the Department of Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences, determined the nutritional and, more importantly, the commercial and viable uses of the cactus pear.

The aspect of human consumption is now giving the cactus pear the status of ‘superfood’.

Dr De Wit and her team have successfully made various products using either the cactus pear fruit, the cladode (also referred to as the leaf) and the mucilage (the sticky liquid  in the cladode).

Some of these products are:

  • flour for baking carrot cake, biscuits and health breads
  • jam, fruit juice and canned fruit
  • sweets – marshmallows and Turkish delight
  • stir-fry, salads and other cooked dishes.

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