Cleaning Clothes & Fabrics with Carbon Dioxide and the Solvair Hybrid System
Solvair Cleaning Process
Cleaning Clothes & Fabrics with Carbon Dioxide Overview
An eco-friendly promising new technology for dry-cleaning uses carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is normally a gas, but under high pressure it converts to a liquid. In a specially designed machine, clothes are tumbled at about 900 pounds per square inch of pressure with liquid carbon dioxide and a new detergent to release the dirt. After the wash and rinse cycles, the carbon dioxide is collected and reused. Some items that cannot be dry cleaned with solvents, such as leather, fur, and some synthetics, can be safely cleaned with liquid carbon dioxide. In terms of performance, carbon dioxide is effective in removing stains and odors while reducing color bleeding and greying according to the University of Minnesota Technical Assistance Program.
EPA & Liquid Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Surfactant System For Garment Care
As part of a cooperative effort between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the garment and textile care industry, the EPA Design for the Environment (DfE) Program recognizes the liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) cleaning process as one example of an environmentally-preferable technology that can effectively clean garments.
Currently, most of the Nation’s 34,000 commercial drycleaners use perchloroethylene (PCE or perc) as a solvent to clean garments. Since 1992, in response to growing health and environmental concerns about perc, EPA has been working in a voluntary partnership with the drycleaning industry to reduce exposures to perc. EPA’s DfE Garment and Textile Care Partnership (GTCP) encourages professional clothes cleaners to explore environmentally-preferable technologies capable of cleaning garments labeled “dryclean only.” Several companies in the garment and textile care industry have begun using liquid CO2 cleaning technologies for cleaning all types of fabrics. One company, Micell Technologies, Inc., has developed a process that utilizes liquid CO2 in conjunction with cleaning agents (i.e., surfactants). This new technology, named the Micare™ System, effectively cleans clothes and is now in commercial use (next page for How the Liquid CO2 Process Works & Environmental Overview >> and complete case study here).
Solvair hybrid dry cleaning process
Solvair is a relatively new process in the field of dry cleaning. The Solvair system is a hybrid system using glycol ether solvent for the cleaning cycle and liquid carbon dioxide to rinse out the solvent and dry the garments. Currently there is limited data on the toxicity and human health risks for the group of solvents. There is no health risk from exposure to the CO2 used in the Solvair technology. Full Solvair dry-cleaning process here.
NYC Dot Gov: Perchlorethylene and Safer Cleaning Methods
EPA: Case Study Liquid Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Surfactant System For Garment Care
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