GreenEarth Cleaning Awarded U.S. Patent for Safer Anti-Viral Dry Cleaning Process

Posted by Dinesh Kumar on June 15th, 2023

GreenEarth® Cleaning, the world’s largest brand of environmentally friendly dry cleaning, offering the industry’s only non-toxic cleaning alternative, was recently awarded a U.S. Patent for the development of an anti-viral cleaning methodology which has been incorporated into the GreenEarth Cleaning System.

The patent, awarded January 17, enables GreenEarth Affiliates to integrate vaporization into the drycleaning cycle to deliver the highest level of protection from current and future lipid-layer viruses.

“In the spring of 2020, after the World Health Organization (WHO) had declared the Covid-19 outbreak a global pandemic, we contracted with MRI Global, an independent laboratory approved for testing with Sars-CoV-2. Our intent was to determine the effectiveness of our system in penetrating the lipid layer of the coronavirus using a high drying temperature of 158 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius) for 30 minutes,” said Tim Maxwell, President of GreenEarth Cleaning. “We were surprised when the initial reports showed only a 14.28 percent deactivation efficacy with heat alone. So, we went back to the drawing board.”

Initially, through diligent manipulation of the washing, extraction, and drying steps, GreenEarth was able to achieve deactivation levels of 75 percent. In response to that resulte, GreenEarth created a silicone vapor program component that achieved a deactivation level greater than 98 percent on SARS-CoV-2 contaminated wool fabrics.

“Once we solidified the vaporization and process and attained this result on a consistent basis, we added the anti-viral cleaning methodology to our suite of offerings available to GreenEarth Affiliates,” said Maxwell. “We continue to achieve extremely high viral eradication without adding aggressive chemistry. With this innovation, we are providing an expanded level of care without doing harm to the environment, people, or their garments.”

Early in 2023, GreenEarth technical support began incorporating the necessary program modifications into all GreenEarth Affiliate machines.

“With this advancement, we feel that our Affiliates are better prepared for the potential arrival of any possible new variant of Covid or the next virus,” added Maxwell.

For more information, visit https://www.greenearthcleaning.com

About GreenEarth Cleaning:
"Doing business without doing harm" has been the mission statement of GreenEarth since its birth in 1999. Founded by partners, General Electric, Procter & Gamble, and three drycleaners - Jim Barry, Ron Benjamin, and Jim Douglas, the System utilizes a proprietary product line of pure silicone and unique "cold" filtration media, which provides consumers with the best possible fabric care while lowering energy costs by more than 50 percent from traditional drycleaning systems. Global regulatory agencies have deemed the unique silicone dry cleaning medium to be environmentally non-toxic, allowing GreenEarth Affiliates to completely eliminate hazardous waste removal fees. Leading dry cleaners, hotels, property owners, fashion brands, and financial institutions recognize GreenEarth as the clear leader in meeting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives. For more information, visit https://www.greenearthcleaning.com