Whirlpool

[foodchain]

If you randomly spun some large vat of microbial life in some fluid once every thirty minutes do you think in some span of time this would register with how the microbes are behaving? I mean could this random spin in a liquid vat in time become enough alone to register in say gene selection even?

 

I mean if you could manage to make a washing machine a habitable environment for some microbe that could replace detergent this would be beneficial somehow I think?

[CaptainPanic]

Microbes would loooove a washing machine! It's just that normal machines have:

1. nasty detergent which they do not like - but I'm sure there are some microbes who will eat it.

2. a much too short residence time (meaning you refresh the water much too fast).

 

But the mixing, the 30-40 deg C temperature and the fact that oxygen is present would be perfect.

 

What's your secret plan to remove the microbes from your clothing once they're permanently settled in there? And how do you plan on making the microbes eat the siliconoxide (SiO2) part of the dirt on your clothes?

 

As for the gene selection: have a look at anaerobic digesters (used in waste water cleaning, and bio-gas production). There you just dump some microbes into the feedstock, and wait. The ones that like the feedstock the most will multiply the fastest. This is called "adaptation". It can take up to several months to do this. Probably best to do the adaptation using synthetic clothes, so you don't select the cotton-eating bugs.

[big314mp]

And how do you plan on making the microbes eat the siliconoxide (SiO2) part of the dirt on your clothes?

 

I think the dirt (the SiO2 bit) only really sticks because of various organic compounds like oils and tars. Current detergents don't really "destroy" silica, they just loosen it up from the surface. I should throw in the a fair amount of the dust that clothes are exposed to indoors, consists of dead skin cells, rather than silica.

 

If you had microbes that could eat grass stains, food stains, oils, dead skin cells, and odor compounds, you'd be pretty well set on a detergent replacement.

 

Perhaps a hot water rinse to remove the bacteria?

 

...and on reading my post again, I'm seeing a problem, as a bacteria that ate cellulose would probably eat cotton shirts as well. There may be a way around that one, but I don't see it.

[foodchain]

I don’t really know on the topic of how to make some metabolism that would support detergent no longer being a household product. I do know that of course water systems are connected in many places via sewers or some form of plumbing. So you also I think tend to deal with that whole idea of even how to make say a washing machine something of a dead end for whatever microbe to move in or out of. You would also I think tend to deal with free detergent generating populations of such and who knows what. I think if you made something that produced a film or some kind of social behavior possibly that you could try to support such dying during a drying cycle though.

[big314mp]

This may be an idea more relevant to something like a hotel, where large quantities of relatively homogeneous laundry are done, rather than in the home, where a general purpose detergent may be more appropriate.

 

Would an alcohol rinse remove the microbes? A warm ethanol (since its cheap and common) rinse to destroy the microbes and rinse them out. It could be followed by a water rinse. You may be able to get away with recycling the ethanol, as it's purpose is merely to break down/dissolve the microbes. The water rinse could remove any residues left by the microbes.