DRY Cleaners – A history of Pollution
Historical Chemicals used in Dry Cleaning The following contaminants (along with their degradation products) are usually associated with dry cleaning activities (all are volatile halogenated organic compounds):
Pollution with perchloroethylene (PCE)
Pollution with Trichloroethylene (TCE) – which is also a degradation product of PCE
cis-1,2-Dichloroethylene (cis-1,2-DCE) – which is a degradation product of both PCE and TCE
trans-1,2-Dichloroethylene (trans-1,2-DCE) – which is a degradation product of both PCE and TCE
Vinyl chloride (VC) – which is a degradation product of both PCE and TCE
1,1,1- trichloroethane (1,1,1-TCA) 1,4-dioxane
Other pollution contaminants that were historically associated with dry cleaning activities include:
Carbon tetrachloride
Freon 113 (1,1,2 trichloro-1,2,2-trufluoroethane)
Stoddard solvent
Kerosene
Mineral spirits
Modern Day Chemicals used in Dry Cleaning Since the late 90s,
petroleum solvents started to be introduced in dry cleaning, little by little replacing chlorinated solvents.
The following are some of the chemicals:
DF-2000™ – petroleum base solvent – a synthetic paraffin;
Rynex™ – glycol tertiary-butyl ether – first introduced as a dry cleaning solvent in 1999;
PureDry™ – a mixture of isoparaffinic hydrocarbons, hydrofluoroethers and perfluoroisobutylethers
Impress™ – glycol-ether based solvent starting 2004
DrySolv™ – n-propyl bromide started in 2006.
