The ideal combination, in Kaspar Hasenclever’s view was 70% wetcleaning and 30% high boiling-point solvents. “These are accepted and offer the best possibilities for cleaning all garments. In the future we will clean more easycare garments, hence wetcleaning is the way forward,” he said.
Dr Manfred Wentz’s “environmental judgment call” for “green drycleaning” put carbon dioxide top of the list, followed by cyclic siloxanes (such as GreenEarth), hydrocarbon and glycol ethers. He added, though, that drycleaners should aim to “optimise non-aqueous and aqueous processes”.