The way to wash dishes without soap that promises to be safer and cheaper

by time news

The dishwasher It is a wonderful invention: it gives us time for what we want instead of spending it on the tedious task of washing the dishes. It only requires the effort of placing the kitchenware inside, adding detergent and pressing a button. But his work is not perfect. Conventional dishwashers often don’t remove all of the harmful microorganisms left on plates, bowls, and cutlery. They also require long cycle times that use large amounts of electricity, and the detergent ends up in water sources, polluting the environment.

Researchers from the technical universities of Dortmund and Munich have devised a superheated steam dishwasher, which they say in the journal Physics of Fluids, could provide a more efficient and environmentally friendly solution. At the moment they are just a simulation, but according to the results of the scientists, such a machine kills 99% of the bacteria on a plate in just 25 seconds.

In the model, the dishwasher looks like a box with solid side walls, an opening at the top and a spout at the bottom. A plate covered with a heat-resistant strain of bacteria is placed directly over the mouthpiece. Once the plate reaches a certain temperature threshold in the simulation, the microorganisms are considered inactivated.

“The steam comes out of the nozzle at a very high speed. We can see shocks and the turbulent flow that is created has eddies and vortices,” he explains. Natalie Germann, of the Technical University of Dortmund and author of the study. “We also include heat transfer, which shows how heat changes in the simulation box, and condensation on solid surfaces.”

food scraps

The shock waves, created by the high speed of the steam, are reflected by the surfaces of the dishwasher. While the team focused on bacteria in this work, shocks could be used to effectively remove food debris in the future. A totally necessary point if this invention intends to take it home. “Our study helps determine the force of the blows, the position of the blows and the vortices that are created inside the dishwasher,” he says. Laila Abu-Farah, from the Technical University of Munich and also author of the work. “This is very important for organizing the items or objects inside the dishwasher and the location and orientation of the nozzles.”

While the simulations show rapid inactivation of bacteria, actual dishwasher applications would include more than one dish and therefore require more time. However, the researchers believe that it would still be much faster and more effective than conventional technology.

The superheated steam dishwasher would cost more initially, but in the long run “it would be worth it with savings on water, electricity and detergent.” According to the researchers, it would be ideal for use in restaurants, hotels and hospitals, which must meet high hygiene standards. For Germann, the application of a dishwasher with superheated steam is “promising”.

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