Chemical clothes wringer

engineers have developed a compound that forces clothes in the washing machine to shed 20 percent more water during the spin cycle than in normal conditions. The result is a washing load that dries faster in the dryer, saving energy and reducing homeowners’ electricity bills and time spent in the laundry room.

“We feel it’s very cost-effective research and convenient for consumers,” said Dinesh Shah, a professor of chemical engineering and director of the UF Center for Surface Science and Engineering.

Shah and Daniel Carter, a doctoral student in chemical engineering, will publish their second article about their research this month in Langmuir. UF has applied for a patent on the research, which was funded with $200,000 from Procter & Gamble.

More than 56 percent of Americans own electric dryers, with a typical dryer handling 300 loads per year, Carter said. With the average load requiring from 2.7 to 3 kilowatt hours of electricity, that means drying clothes equates to five percent of total residential electricity consumption, costing $2.6 billion annually, Carter said.