Friday, March 25, 2016

By Roger Ward


Dry cleaning refers to any methods or process used to clean clothing or textile, which uses chemical solvents alone without water. Water is completely excluded from the process. The chemical solvent used is tetrachloroethylene, also called perchloroethylene. Perchloroethylene is often shortened to perc or PERC in the industry most of the time. When one needs high quality dry cleaning Westfield NJ is the best place to pay a visit.

The history of modern dry cleaning is a long one, having been reported in 1855 for the first time. Jean Baptiste Jolly, a French dye-works operator was the first person to recognize the potential of kerosene and other petroleum-based substances to aid in washing clothes. However, petroleum-based substances were highly flammable and were soon replaced with white spirit. Cleaners were regulated by the government because of the high flammability level of petroleum-based solvents.

The introduction of chlorinated solvents began shortly after the culmination of the First World War. Chlorinated solvents were introduced because they were less flammable in comparison to the petroleum-based solvents. They also cleaned much better and caused less damage to fabrics. Thomas Jennings was the first African American to be granted a patent for inventing the dry scouring method, which was a precursor to the modern-day fry cleaning method.

Tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene) was adopted by the mid 1930s. This move came after several years of experimentation and trial before it was invented. The various advantages that tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene) were the reason why it was adopted for use in the industry. The first advantage is that it eliminated instances of fires and explosions because it is not flammable and it is very stable.

Another advantage of Tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene) results from its higher washing power. It affects garments to the least level too. Unfortunately, however, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission named perc as one of the carcinogens. Since the classification of perc as carcinogenic, measures have been taken by regulatory authorities to keep environmental emission to the lowest level. Replacements have also been introduced to remove perc out of the market. It is likely that perc will become hard to find on the market in the near future.

The United States has one of the largest markets for dry cleaning. By the year 2011, the market was approximated to have an average market of $7.5 billion. The total number of firms reached 22, 000 firms while the number of employees totaled 150, 000 workers. Those statistics translate to each firm hiring 7 employees on average with each earning 330, 000 annually.

The machine used for this process is made in a way as to reduce wastage of material. Most of the solvent used is recycled and reused within the machine during a washing cycle. The whole process is overseen by an operator to ensure that everything flows smoothly.

There are restrictions on how the waste resulting from this process is disposed because it is classified as hazardous. The name cooked powder residue is used to refer to the resultant waste material. Various materials are contained within the residue including the solvent, carbon, lint, water, grease, dyes, soils, powdered filter material, and non-volatile residues.




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