What was the challenge or problem to be solved?
The INFINITIA team took on the challenge of evaluating the effectiveness of a new steam disinfection device for textiles and surfaces for textile materials and surfaces. This project arose from the client’s need to determine whether these techniques could effectively reduce the presence of microorganisms under certain conditions and with optimised programmes.
The context of this research was the growing importance of sustainable and effective methods for disinfecting textiles, especially in industries such as healthcare, hospitality and textiles. However, evaluating the effectiveness of steam methods presented significant challenges, especially with regard to the variability of results when using different combinations of temperature and exposure times.
The main objective of the project was the design of a customised setup and test that would make it possible to conclusively quantify the disinfection efficiency on different types of microorganisms and materials.
How was it addressed or what was the solution?
The project began with the proposal of several disinfection programmes that combined different levels of temperature, frequency and exposure times. This theoretical analysis and design of experiments made it possible to establish a range of steam parameters that could be applied as potential disinfection methods. The initial evaluation defined the ideal conditions for testing their effectiveness on textiles and surfaces.
Standard material samples, textiles and surfaces were then selected and used as a reference. These samples were prepared and inoculated with different types of micro-organisms, e.g. E. coli, S. aureus, C. albicans. This step was essential to simulate realistic contamination scenarios and guarantee the relevance of the results obtained.
After inoculation, steam treatments were applied to the samples and the surviving bacteria were quantified by means of culture methods, microbiological analysis techniques. Colony-forming units were counted and the effectiveness of the different programmes analysed was calculated. The results of the steam-treated samples were compared with the untreated control samples, allowing the percentage of bacterial reduction achieved with each programme to be determined.
The success of the project lay in INFINITIA’s ability to design a customised setup and test to analyse the impact of the steam programmes, as well as the different influences of temperature, frequency and exposure times.
This approach provided clear and quantifiable data, helping to improve the client’s product and define the optimal parameters to guarantee disinfection of textiles and surfaces.
