[labnetwork] clean room garments laundry vendors

[Gheorghe Iordache]

Dear Nava,
This issue is indeed extremely important to minimize the contamination of cleanroom.
Long time ago, when searching for solutions, I realized there are PROs and CONs when using a service provider and this of course if this is available reasonably close to your area.
I visited one of the sites of one of the biggest laundry service providers in Europe which, apart from dry cleaning and laundering, would also own and rent uniforms for different areas of activity from hotel staff to pilots.
Even the service for cleanroom garments was provided at some other location some 1000 km away, they walk me thorough all their process onsite from producing the soft water for laundering to barcode tracking of every single piece of their inventory and microscopically checking the actual status of the fabric. From here, one of the requirements or advice for in-house cleaning the cleanroom garments: use water with low content of minerals. Otherwise the salts will deposit in between the fabric fibers making the fabric crispier and leading to particulate and more rapidly damaging the fabric. The same effect, at a lower extent though, is observed when drying after laundering.
Some requirements:

*         Perform all process in clean environment equal or better than cleanroom cleanliness class (ISO 5 or above)

*         Use of filtered and soft water

*         Use of appropriate detergent

*         Avoid drying

PROs for using a laundering service, if available:

*         Peace of mind. You don't need your staff to handle this

*         Professional procedures (if?)

CONs:

*         Service much more expensive

*         Need at least 4 full sets of garments (one in the cleanroom, one at the laundry, two traveling in between the two sites)

*         You don't have full control over the process (environment cleanliness, chemicals used, handling, etc.)

*         More packaging needed, so, not environment friendly

Depending on the number of cleanroom garments and the resources (people, time, money) you are willing to allocate to this, I would go for in-house laundering in a small dedicated area in the chase, without drying cycle, just left hanging over the weekend to dry. I have applied this in the past in another cleanroom and after one year and half we did not notice any microscopic deterioration of the polyester fabric for the coveralls washed weekly.
I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
=======================
Gheorghe IORDACHE, PhD Physics, MBA
Director, Nanofabrication Core Lab
KAUST
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
Al Khawarizmi Building 1 East, Level 3, Office 3415
Thuwal 23955-6900
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
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Mobile: +966 (0)540381154
Email: gheorghe.iordache at kaust.edu.sa<mailto:gheorghe.iordache at kaust.edu.sa>
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================
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From: labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu [mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu] On Behalf Of Nava Ariel-Sternberg
Sent: 24 February 2021 16:21
To: labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu
Subject: [labnetwork] clean room garments laundry vendors

Hi all,
I know this topic was discussed in the past but I feel like the options in this area are very limited and the vendors are taking advantage of that.
What is your solution for clean room garments laundry? Are you renting and sending them out to laundry? If so, could you please let me know which vendor you're using?
You can respond directly to me if you don't feel comfortable sharing your feedback with everyone.
Thanks,
Nava


Nava Ariel-Sternberg, Ph.D.
Director of CNI Shared Labs
Columbia University
CEPSR/MC 8903
530 west 120th st. NY
NY 10027
Office: 212-8549927
Cell: 201-5627600


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