The drying cabinet can inactivate viruses
The classic drying cabinet now adds a feature that could benefit preschools and other businesses. According to a study conducted by RISE, on behalf of NIMO, it was established that with proper handling, both the common norovirus (winter vomiting disease) and Sars-CoV-2 (Corona) are inactivated by the heat in NIMO’s Easy Dryer 1900 drying cabinet.
“We’ve always known that high temperatures are necessary for re-impregnating different materials and that heat can also remove a degree of dirt from clothes. The drying cabinet wasn’t intended to remove viruses, but it’s a great added value,” says NIMO’s CEO Karin Kruse.
The Swedish company NIMO manufactures drying cabinets, laundry benches and equipment for taking care of clothes and textiles. The company, which is one of Sweden’s largest suppliers of drying cabinets to the country’s schools, gave the Technical Research Institute RISE the task of investigating whether NIMO’s best-selling drying cabinet to preschools had any effect on the virus variants that are commonly found in school environments.
“The drying cabinet is practical, energy efficient and an important part of keeping children dry on rainy and wet days. Since the heat developed in drying cabinets can have hygienic effects, we wanted to know if, or to what extent, it could be a valuable contribution to the school environment,” says Karin Kruse.
Erik Nygren, who is the Director of Research at RISE, carried out the study together with Lars Hamberg from RISE, and wrote the report “Dry heat inactivation of pathogens in dryer cabinet assessed by modelling”.
“The most common infectious micro-organisms in childcare environments attack the respiratory tract and the stomach. We wanted to investigate whether it’s possible to inactivate such pathogens on commonly used textiles among children in childcare environments, especially since these viruses also affect staff, families, close relatives and the whole of society,” says Erik Nygren at RISE.
The study provides clear results and is part of NIMO’s overall strategy to offer the market innovative and sustainable clothing care.
“We’d like to do more studies on this to further ensure its reliability. The idea of having drying cabinets in preschools to heat treat blankets, bibs, towels and other textiles that can have a negative impact when it comes to spreading infection is very interesting,” says NIMO’s CEO Karin Kruse.