The Avol Orange is a new sustainable neutralizing agent, designed to neutralize bleaching agents like potassium permanganate and sodium hypochlorite without unpleasant smells or severe risks to workers’ health. To achieve a fully sustainable bleaching process, Avol Orange can also be used to neutralize Avol Oxy White, the sustainable replacement of potassium permanganate created by Garmon.
In this way, Avol Orange satisfies the needs of denim laundries that want to replace dangerous commodities with a product safer and more user-friendly, at a very competitive cost.
In the denim industry, neutralizing agents are commonly used after bleaching processes, like those performed with potassium permanganate and sodium hypochlorite. Before going ahead with the following process, the bleaching agents must be neutralized, and most of the times the neutralization occurs with products like sodium metabisulphite and hydroxylamine. However, these products have several drawbacks and possible severe impacts on workers’ safety.
If breathed in, metabisulfite irritates the nose, throat and lungs, causing coughing, wheezing and/or shortness of breath. Moreover, its strong smell is very unpleasant for workers and compromises their safety.
Hydroxylamine, another product commonly used to neutralize potassium permanganate, is even more dangerous: it’s classified as a dangerous good, meaning exposure to heat hydroxylamine can explode, which causes shipping complications. Just like metabisulfite, if breathed in hydroxylamine can irritate the nose, throat and lungs. But, probably the most concerning fact, hydroxylamine is suspected to cause cancer and mutagenic effects in human beings!
All these risks coming from the use of metabisulfite and hydroxylamine can be avoided by replacing them with Avol Orange.
The denim industry requires the production of thousands of garments every day. Mass production of clothes increases the exposure of denim laundry workers to chemicals and the related equipment they work with. For this reason, Garmon’s mission is to develop products that respect workers’ health, and Avol Orange is the latest, a great addition to the range.
For more information contact Garmon’s team:
