Before deciding on what equipment is necessary for your business, you must decide on which cleaning agent you will be using and, essentially, there are 3 alternatives, perchloroethylene, hydrocarbon and silicon based solvents such as Green Earth. Two others exist, one is Rynex (of which we do not know of any plant in the UK using this solvent), and the other is good old water which is effective for up to 60% of all garments presented to drycleaners.
Renzacci UK Plc is happy to look at your particular situation which will include the type of garments you are likely to process as well as location and other mitigating factors and advise you of the most appropriate solvent for you and your business.
We have produced a more detailed paper on the solvent characteristics, and you can download these by clicking this link. Briefly however, here are the pros and cons for each:
Perchloroethylene
Faster cleaning
Ideal for heavily soiled fabrics & work-wear processing
Excellent for every day general drycleaning
More controls needed to operate the solvent
Less machine space required
Saves on spotting procedures
Lower startup machine costs
Hydrocarbon
More environmentally friendly
Safeguards against future environmental compliance
Ideal for a second machine
Machines larger and more expensive to run and to purchase
Solvent is more expensive to buy compared to Perchloroethylene
Green Earth
More environmentally friendly
Gentle cleaner
Safeguards against future environmental compliance
Less cleaning power than either Perchloroethylene or Hydrocarbon
Could be a useful solvent if used for a second machine
Machines larger and more expensive to purchase and to run
Solvent is more expensive than Perchloroethylene or Hydrocarbon
Annual license fee (currently £1000 p.a.) is payable to use this solvent
Currently in the UK, over 95% of independant drycleaning machines use perchloroethylene with 95% of drycleaning retailers opting for new Perchloroethylene machines. However, this solvent is may come under increased environmental pressure and, in Germany for instance, greener hydrocarbon machines are fast replacing the less eco-friendly perchloroethylene choice. However, with the introduction of the Solvent Emissions Directive, and the subsequent and welcomed regulation of drycleaners, we feel that this has enhanced the position of Perchloroethylene and made the industry far more professional and aware of its environmental position.
However, despite advances in both these solvent technologies, you can expect at least 25% longer processing times for hydrocarbon or silicon based machines to obtain results similar to perchloroethylene machines. Furthermore, stain removal procedures for hydrocarbon and especially Green Earth are more labour-intensive than those required for perchloroethylene, necessitating the purchase of a fully specified spotting table with steam, water, air and vacuum. At this stage we feel that a client who wants to opt for a Silicon based solvent such as Green Earth should take advantage of one of our multi-solvent machines (capable of using either a hydrocarbon solvent or a siloxane solvent) as experience has shown that sometimes it may be better to have the option to simply switch back to a hydrocarbon solvent rather than having to purchase a completely new machine should the silicon solvent not prove all it was meant to be.
Renzacci UK will continue to keep our clients abreast of developments in relevant environmental legislation for the UK and EU, as well as improved technologies and options for other cleaning agents should they become available.
