Broadening the solvent choice

Perc continues to be the subject of scientific debate and regulatory restrictions, despite its position as the leading all-purpose solvent of choice for many drycleaners.

New regulations in Europe and the USA have prompted the drycleaning industry to proceed more quickly with technological development, both in finding solutions to reduce emissions for perc machines and in designing specific machines for alternative solvents. These alternatives are silicons; hydrocarbons; carbon dioxide (CO2) and wetcleaning.

In Europe, all drycleaning businesses must conform to the European Union’s Solvent Emissions Directive (SED). The Directive applies across all EU member states, with compliance by 2007 for most. Limits on perc, still the majority solvent, can be achieved with fourth and fifth generation machines, and compliance will help avoid more stringent rules in future.

Eugenio Boni of Italclean says that in general, regulations are helping the replacement of old machines. “Many drycleaners are forced to decide whether to continue the business or not.”

“Italian manufacturers do not foresee trouble as the current state-of-the-art machines are much further advanced than even the most restrictive law requires.”

?Boni says the search is still on for reliable alternatives to perc. Hydrocarbon is a very good solvent but not the definitive solution as it does not clean extremely dirty garments very well. GreenEarth is expensive to run. He believes perc will remain the worldwide solvent of choice for many years, and adds: “Even in countries where perc is being banned, like the USA, they are realising now that hydrocarbon has limitations, too.”

Heiner Rademacher, managing director of Böwe Textile Cleaning in Germany believes the main solvents will be perc, hydrocarbon and cyclosiloxanes. He says that liquefied CO2 is a good fat solvent, but there is not sufficient mechanical action on the garments so soiling cannot be completely removed.

As a leader in the development of drycleaning machines, Böwe continuously adjusts its products to meet environmental regulations in more than 50 countries.

“Böwe Textile Cleaning decided to develop its own hydrocarbon series parallel to the machines that work with perc,” says Rademacher. The result is the M (?MultiSolvent) series that can be used with any alternative solvent.

Böwe has also introduced an industrial machine, Induline, for use with perc and alternative solvents.

Böwe is focusing strongly on the USA, says Rademacher, and this market only wants machines that operate with alternative solvents.

The basic principle of the real fractional distillation, developed by Böwe, is also featured on the Induline. Fractional distillation is absolutely necessary to guarantee faultless operation and, especially with hydrocarbon machines, to avoid creation of bacteria and odour,” says Rademacher.

Böwe’s development of its PremiumLine, StarLine, and InduLine models meets all environment- and safety-relevant regulations.

Rademacher says that in southern Europe in particular, the company can supply its machines as usual It is also in a position to retrofit machines that it has already delivered to the customer so that they comply with the regulations.

Soil contamination by solvents “will become a huge problem for EU countries”, according to Cinet secretary general Peter Wennekes. He refers to an agreement between the Netherlands organisation Netex and the Dutch government.

Under this agreement a budget of EURO30million has been allocated to handle the problem and drycleaners pay a fixed contribution based upon turnover.

In Belgium, the Textile Care Industry Soil Decontamination Fund has been created. The Government contributes 50% and the cost of decontamination is passed to the fund. Payment is spread over 30 years, allowing the sale and letting of businesses once again.

Legislation is definitely influencing the drycleaning business by increasing the pressure to show more environmental awareness and by pushing environmentally friendly technologies, says Andreas Klensch, the managing director/CEO of the Fred Butler Group in Germany.

His company is committed to liquid carbon dioxide cleaning through franchised drycleaning shops and through partnerships. It is working closely with suppliers to further improve the technology in terms of performance, energy efficiency and cost.

The development of the process as well as the detergents has an effect on the cleaning performance and influences machine choice.

“We see the future in a combination of CO2 and wetcleaning,” says Klensch.

He says that greater environmental awareness and discussions about environmental problems have had a positive effect on the business and the way that customers relate to the company’s environmentally friendly brand.

Klensch adds: “Although we do not manufacture drycleaning machines, as a supplier for the Washpoint III system, we see there is a significant interest in an eco-friendly system with improved cleaning performance.”

In the USA, legislation at both government and state level has affected the number of enquiries about the Fred Butler franchise. Improvements in the performance of CO2 in the last two years have led to a significant increase in interest, both from potential partners/franchisees and from consumers.”

At Italian manufacturer Renzacci, general sales and marketing manager Marco Niccolini says that legislative pressure has created a climate in which evaluation of current industry solvents is open to interpretation and the arguments range from superficial to being excessively alarmist.

His company has attempted to redress the balance on its website by providing information about the issue. The site does not just give the legal situation it explains how the issues affect drycleaners. It also explains the opportunities that Renzacci provides to learn about new generations of machinery.

The company recently unveiled its Progress perc machines, which have several features designed to minimise consumption of energy, solvent and water. These include the Windjet integrated drying and solvent recovery system, with the innovative air-recirculation system with reversed flow, and the Multipoint solvent extraction system, which reduces the solvent consumption to almost insignificant levels.

The Hydrosoft range from Renzacci is a new line of high-spin hydrocarbon machines with an innovative alternate bath cleaning system that makes it possible to exploit the properties of hydrocarbon while at the same time offering high quality cleaning results.

The Multigrade delicate solvent extraction system provides a simple and advanced method of auto-balancing, making the machine stable, silent in operation and increasing its life.

Legislative pressure

The USA drycleaning market is seeing a shift towards alternative solvents as a result of legislative pressure. This trend was much in evidence at Clean ’07. At a press conference during the show, the Drycleaning and Laundry Institute (formerly IFI) CEO Bill Fisher said that while he still believed that perc is the best solvent, new drycleaning businesses, and those upgrading machines should consider the alternatives.

In its industry white paper entitled “Key Information on Industry Solvents” published in July 2007, it says: “In light of the regulatory/political issues and media scrutiny of perc, DLI believes that a member considering an investment in a new drycleaning system would be best advised to first consider alternative solvents, and to evaluate them against the difficulties of using perc today”.

The alternatives to perc seem to be popular with cleaners that have more than one machine and therefore the flexibility to experiment and with cleaners facing pressure from landlords concerned about the potential for soil and groundwater contamination, says Steve Risotto of the Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance (HSIA). “Although we see some cleaners deciding to switch to hydrocarbon and, to a lesser degree, GreenEarth, most appear comfortable in their use of perc.”

“Hydrocarbon solvents and liquid silicon GreenEarth have become a strong alternative, especially in North America and are selling well, in view of the regulations which limit the use of chlorine-based solvents,” says Gabriele Cuppini of Italian manufacturer Union.

“It is expected that these solvents will become more and more popular thanks to the latest-generation machine technology which gives excellent results.

“Through the new solvents, new machine technology can be developed that allows reductions in energy consumption. The Union Nova series runs without any water or steam and has lower electricity and running costs.

The industry is carefully watching the fate of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) amendments to the Clean Air Act, says Jamie Mayberry, vice president communications at R R Street & Co. The EPA’s new rules would phase out the use of perc in drycleaning plants located in residential buildings by 2020. No new perc machines of any type would be allowed in mixed-use buildings and all transfer machines would be banned.

In addition, all drycleaners that use perc would be required to conduct costly and enhanced leak detection and repair programmes. California’s state-wide phaseout of perc was instituted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in early 2007. CARB voted to phase out the use of perc in drycleaning, with a total ban on perc in California by 2023.

CARB also has the authority under the Non-Toxic Dry Cleaning Incentive Program (AB 998) to provide grants to California cleaners for replacing perc machines.

The AB998 programme is funded by a surcharge on perc imported for use in drycleaning to assist drycleaners in switching to non-toxic cleaning systems.

Mayberry at R R Street says that society’s interest in the environment, and the pressure on traditional solvents, such as perc, are certainly contributing factors to the growing adoption of high flash hydrocarbon solvents among drycleaners in the USA.

His company’s first production Solvair Cleaning System machine began operations at Lake City Cleaners, located in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, during the summer.

The Solvair cleaning system uses a highly effective, biodegradable fluid to clean clothes and then dries garments without using heat. Instead, liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) rinses the cleaning solvent from the garment, which is then dried by converting the liquid CO2 to gas. The entire process takes thirty minutes and, according to R R Street, requires no pre-spotting, removing a wider range of stains and soils than was previously possible.

Cleaners and manufacturers are increasingly looking at the alternatives to perc, as they have for more than 10 years. However, environmental pressures are only part of the picture, says Mayberry.

“No matter how environmentally friendly a process is, it must get the job done and it must be economical and practical to use. High flash hydrocarbon has a proven track record, while many of the alternatives to perc presented to the industry up until now, have not been practical and/or do not achieve the cleaning results that drycleaners require.

“This is a major factor in perc’s continued popularity despite the regulatory pressure; it is an excellent cleaning solvent.”

While going to a “green” drycleaner is important for a small number of consumers, it is fairly low on the list of considerations, well below stain removal and factors such as location and counter staff friendliness, says Mayberry. “For any alternative in the market to become widely accepted it needs to clean effectively, it needs to be economically practical, and it needs to address environmental concerns.

“Now and in the future, the machines and processes, that can meet these three goals will be the ones that take the industry forward.”

Columbia Drycleaning Machines, which has distributed Ilsa machines in North America since 1986, says Ilsa’s Ipura system is designed to address the regulatory challenges facing USA drycleaners today.

Ilsa produces a wide range of drycleaning machines suitable for using perc and aliphatic hydrocarbons solvents. Designed for Class III-A hydrocarbon solvents, Ipura uses an innovative Jet Clean system based on high-pressure solvent injection through nozzles, says Ilsa sales manager Claudio Bonvicini. Ilsa designed and patented the Ipura drycleaning technique, which combines a drastic reduction of handling costs with the maintenance requirements of delicate garments. The garments are not soaked, but subjected to the cleaning effect of a reduced quantity of aliphatic hydrocarbon solvent, which is injected and dispersed within the basket under suitable conditions.

The atomised solvent is distributed through the garment to dislodge soil. Though aliphatic hydrocarbons cannot be used on certain finishes such as PVC, the family of solvents is compatible with many fabrics, treatments and accessories.