For Excellent Dry Cleaning Westfield NJ Is Worth Visiting

By Roger Ward


Dry cleaning refers to any methods or process used to clean clothing or textile, which uses chemical solvents alone without water. Water is completely excluded from the process. The chemical solvent used is tetrachloroethylene, also called perchloroethylene. Perchloroethylene is often shortened to perc or PERC in the industry most of the time. When one needs high quality dry cleaning Westfield NJ is the best place to pay a visit.

The first report about dry cleaning was made in 1855, making its history a long one. Jean Baptiste Jolly was a French dye-works operator and the one who recognized that washing clothes could be aided by kerosene, diesel and other petroleum-based solvents. However, white spirit was soon adopted because petroleum-based solvents were highly flammable. Instances of explosions and fires were high to a point that cleaners started to be regulated by the government.

The introduction of chlorinated solvents began shortly after the culmination of the First World War. Chlorinated solvents were introduced because they were less flammable in comparison to the petroleum-based solvents. They also cleaned much better and caused less damage to fabrics. Thomas Jennings was the first African American to be granted a patent for inventing the dry scouring method, which was a precursor to the modern-day fry cleaning method.

The adoption of tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene) happened by the mid of 1930s. The adoption or invention of this solvent happened after a very long time that was characterized by trials and experimentation. Tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene) was adopted because of the many advantages it presented to the industry. First, it is more stable and nonflammable, which eliminates the risk of fires and explosion.

Another advantage of Tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene) results from its higher washing power. It affects garments to the least level too. Unfortunately, however, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission named perc as one of the carcinogens. Since the classification of perc as carcinogenic, measures have been taken by regulatory authorities to keep environmental emission to the lowest level. Replacements have also been introduced to remove perc out of the market. It is likely that perc will become hard to find on the market in the near future.

The dry cleaning market is largest in the United States among a few other countries. The market was valued at $7.5 billion in the year 2011. The industry has a total of 22, 000 firms and 150, 000 employees. With such statistics, every firm in the industry employed seven workers and paid each of them an annual salary of $330, 000.

The machine used for this process is made in a way as to reduce wastage of material. Most of the solvent used is recycled and reused within the machine during a washing cycle. The whole process is overseen by an operator to ensure that everything flows smoothly.

Waste from a cleaner falls under hazardous materials, rendering its disposal to be regulated by authorities. The resulting material is called cooked powder residue. Cooked powder residue is a composite of several materials. Major constituents are non-volatile residues, solvents, carbon, grease, dyes, lint, water, soils, and powdered filter material.




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