Chemical cleaning
The dry cleaning is the cleaning of textiles in non-aqueous solvents. It is the most common form of professional textile cleaning to date ; To illustrate this, one speaks today of dry cleaning (in contrast to the newly developed professional wet cleaning ). Compared to cleaning with water, it has the advantage that the fibers of the textile do not swell, but instead retain the shape that they have when dry. The solvent used for this only washes around the fiber.
In Austria, a company that operates dry cleaning is often referred to as a cleaning shop .
cleaning
Many textiles, especially those in which different types of fabric are processed, such as men's suits , women's costumes or coats , can only be cleaned to a limited extent with water or aqueous washing solutions, as they can deform or lose their color. Silk clothes lose their textile structure, they become soft and limp when washed with water.
Cleaning with hydrocarbon solvents (KWL) is particularly useful for high-quality bridal and evening dresses. Pearls, sequins and buttons are not chemically damaged with KWL and do not lose their shine. Stains in clothing must be pretreated with a special agent before cleaning in a cleaning machine so that they can be removed. A pre-treatment can also determine whether colored parts are 'staining'. In this case, special measures are necessary to prevent the staining of z. B. Avoid red dress parts on other parts (often white).
Such textiles are generally cleaned in special textile care companies or dry cleaners with (organic) solvents . Which cleaning agents can be used is noted as a care label ( textile care symbol ) on the label of the textile. Care Labeling "P" stands for perchlorethylene (now called the " tetrachloroethene "), "F" for F your dangerous naphtha (later was also used CFCs, which is no longer permitted for dry cleaning but since 1992 in Germany, failing that, be again today hydrocarbon -Solvents (see below) used). Perchlorethylene is a chlorinated hydrocarbon (CHC) and is hazardous to the environment and health.
The oil of turpentine originally used had been replaced by carcinogenic benzene . From the middle of the 19th century, flammable gasoline was used . With the advent of non-flammable solvents, gasoline cleaning was replaced by organochlorine compounds ( trichloroethene (tri), tetrachloroethene ) and also chlorofluorocarbons ( CFCs ), which, however, are harmful to the environment and health and, apart from tetrachloroethene (PER), are nowadays prohibited (2nd Federal Immission Control Ordinance or in CH Chemical Risk Reduction Ordinance ); the solvents are reused in the cycle. The so-called hydrocarbon solvent, a mixture of aliphatic hydrocarbons with nine to twelve carbon atoms (C9-C12 also known as KWL), has been used since the early 1990s . A trade name for this cleaning agent is Shellsol . Recently, siloxanes and special esters have also been used.
Supercritical carbon dioxide has also been used in commercial cleaning for private customers since 2006, but the number of collection points was limited to a few dozen throughout Germany at the end of 2007. Because the solvent carbon dioxide enables a much more environmentally friendly chemical cleaning, there is the Blue Angel (Jury Umweltzeichen, RAL-UZ 126).
In terms of economic and legal history, the dry cleaning branch of industry is remarkable because it was one of the first branches of the German Reich to develop uniform general terms and conditions (AGB) together with freight forwarders and banks around 1900 , i.e. H. the "small print" on the back of the posting and pick-up slip that you receive when you hand in an item of clothing for cleaning. The development of our own terms and conditions was extremely modern and progressive around 1900. The limitation of liability for loss or damage to the item of clothing to 15 times the cleaning price, which is traditionally regulated in the dry cleaning terms and conditions, has led to many court cases and judgments since 1900, which are dealt with in the legal literature. As a condition cartel, the chemical cleaning branch and association also dealt with cartel law and the cartel authorities.
General information
When cleaning textiles with organic solvents (P, F), hydrophobic substances ( fats , waxes and oils ) dissolve relatively well. The rule of thumb here is “like solves like”. However, water-based stains can be removed better when washing with normal water containing detergent . When cleaning textiles with organic solvents it can happen that invisible stains (water marks, protein, starch, etc.) only become visible after cleaning. In the case of fabrics that do not allow treatment with water (care label - washing prohibited), the stains are removed by additives in the cleaning machine or a local stain treatment (stain treatment).
New developments
Up to now , dry cleaning , dry cleaning and professional cleaning have largely been synonymous. A new development is professional wet cleaning , the care label is W ( Wet , Wasser) in a circle. Even with textiles that cannot be washed under normal household conditions, cleaning with water is often possible under the special conditions of professional wet cleaning. This new development often achieves better cleaning results than dry cleaning and is considered to be particularly effective, inexpensive and environmentally friendly , but leads to greater swelling and shrinking due to hydration and a reduced durability of the textile fibers.
Legal
The Employers' Liability Insurance Association for Energy, Textile, Electrical, Media Products (BG ETEM) is responsible for employee protection, occupational safety and health care in companies .
history
In the 19th century, petroleum and benzene were used for textile cleaning . From 1870 they were replaced by light petrol . Heavy gasoline was used from the 1920s. These solvents were highly flammable . From 1900 to about 1960 carbon tetrachloride was therefore used as a non-flammable but toxic solvent. In the following years, the less toxic solvents perchlorethylene (Per) and trichloroethane (Tri) were increasingly used. From the 1950s on, the non-toxic and non-flammable, but climate-damaging CFCs R113 and R11 were developed. Since December 31, 1992, CFCs can only be used in Germany with a special permit.
See also
literature
- Gerold Schmidt: Handbook of textile cleaning and clothing damage law - dry cleaning and laundry. Case Law Comment . Verlag Neuer Merkur GmbH, Munich 1969, p. 237.
- Herbert Pruns: Review by Gerold Schmidt, manual, etc. In: Monthly for German Law - MDR , 23 (1969) 703.
- Herbert Pruns: Review by Gerold Schmidt, manual, etc. In: Kritische Justiz , (1969) 219.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Overview of cleaning processes and solvents in textile cleaning. (No longer available online.) German Textile Cleaning Association, archived from the original on December 8, 2015 ; Retrieved December 3, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ K. Hungerbühler, J. Ranke, T. Mettier: Chemical products and processes. Springer, 1999, ISBN 978-3-540-64854-3 , p. 251 (data).
- ↑ Patent DE69902172 : Process for dry chemical cleaning. Registered on July 14, 1999 , published on February 27, 2003 , applicant: Grennearth Cleaning LLC, US, inventor: Wolf-Dieter Berndt.
- ↑ Textile cleaning with carbon dioxide, RAL-UZ 126 on blau-engel.de.
- ↑ a b c d e f g A. Amanpour, K. Hertlein et al .: Cleaning with hydrocarbons and water: tried and tested methods for the metal, plastics, electronics and textile industries and for other users; with 35 tables. Volume 469 of Kontakt und Studium, Oberflächentechnik , expert verlag, 1995, ISBN 978-3-816-91088-6 , pp. 214-231.
