ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ASPECTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF DRY-CLEANING SOLVENTS

During the first period of the development of dry-cleaning no attention was paid to environment protection. Only by the end of the 19th century soap products were introduced into gasoline solvents, with the aim to improve the bath conductivity, reduce electrostatic charge in the cleaned textiles and the risk of fire associated with it. Incidentally, the cleaning effect was also improved. In the 20th century were introduced halogenated solvents, which were not inflammable but were, due to their high toxicity, banned, all except perchloroethylene. The sixties witnessed the beginning of higher environmental awareness, while the nineties positioned environment protection to the focus of interest. Only new non-toxic solvents remained in use, while the PERC was put under strict limits, its consumption is allowed to be only 2% of the weight of cleaned textiles. Recent investigations suggest that in a foreseeable future liquid carbon dioxide will be used as a prime dry-cleaning agent.