Tonello is calling its latest ozone finishing system, EGO, “the simplest, the most efficient [and] the most flexible.”
The culmination of a “long process” of research, experimentation and incremental improvements, EGO—short for Enhanced Garment Ozonation—builds off the firm’s OFree, ECOfree and ECOfree 2 technologies, it said.
The Italian company claims EGO reduces water consumption up to 80 percent compared to traditional bleaching methods. It also asserts that simplified wastewater purification operations lower treatment costs.
“OFree, ECOfree, and ECOfree 2, for us at Tonello, represent the stages of technical growth which have, from time to time, changed the rules of the game, imposing ever newer benchmark standards by the force of quality,” the company added. “EGO continues in the same direction, and is set to become the new absolute benchmark.”
EGO combines three components into a single system: ozone dissolved in water to eliminate backstaining, reduce water consumption and simplify purification operations; ozone in air, dry or on wet garments to create discoloration effects; and OBleach, a patented process that Tonello says achieves an “authentic bleach effect” without chemical additives.
According to Tonello, the new EGO ozone technology is simpler and easier to use and maintain. The company further asserts that EGO is more efficient, with an ability to work on several machines simultaneously and a capacity of as much as 3,000 g/h. EGO is also the “key ingredient” in some of the firm’s “most innovative finishing processes, such as OBleach,” it said.
Late last year, the Italian company teamed with World Textile Sourcing (WTS), a U.S. business that provides spinning, dyeing, fabric development and manufacturing services in Peru, to explore the possibilities of its patented natural dyeing system, Wake. The technology uses 100 percent organic and compostable raw materials—flowers, berries, peels and roots, for example—that are dried and infused to achieve warm, earthy colors.
