Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
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

Two Kovsies in action for SA Netball Team in Melbourne
2016-10-18

Description: Tanya Mostert Tags: Tanya Mostert

Tanya Mostert will play at senior level for
South Africa for the first time when she
represents the Proteas Fast5 Netball team.
Photo: Johan Roux

Two players from the University of the Free State (UFS) will represent the country in the Fast5 Netball World Series in Melbourne, Australia.
Tanya Mostert and Lauren-Lee Christians will turn out for the Protea Fast5 team on 29 and 30 October. Fast5 is the shorter and faster version of netball.
Mostert was the UFS captain during the Varsity Netball tournament this year, after taking over the reins from her older sister, Karla Mostert. Tanya has to pass a final fitness test since suffering an injury earlier.

Lauren-Lee will captain this team

Christians represented Kovsies before, but this year she was above age to play in the Varsity tournament again. She represented South Africa’s Fast5 team in 2013 and 2014, but will this time be leading her country as captain "Down Under". She also was vice-captain of the Free State Crinums who won the Brutal Fruit Premier League in 2016.
Besides Christians and Mostert, three former Kovsies are also included in the Fast5 Netball team taking part in Melbourne. They are Vanes-Mari du Toit, Marlize de Bruin, and Fikile Mkhuzangwe.

Four national captains from UFS
With Christians’ selection as Fast5 captain, she became the latest of four Kovsies to be chosen as a national netball captain. All four South African teams – the Proteas, Fast5, U21, as well as the South African Universities team, were captained by Kovsies this year.
Maryka Holtzhausen, former UFS captain and currently assistant coach at the university, led the Proteas before suffering a knee injury. Alicia Puren led the SA U21 team, and Karla Mostert was captain of the South African Universities team that won the World Student Games in Miami, in the USA.

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept