Saving money and improving quality

An impressive array of chemical products now exists to optimise the drycleaning process and assist in making it more effective in removing stains and soiling and to improve the end result. Chemicals used in drycleaning include drycleaning detergents, pre-cleaning/spotting agents, garment treatment chemicals, optical brighteners, bactericides, fabric conditioners, and anti-static/anti-lint agents.

In spite of the economic downturn, sales of drycleaning chemicals have grown by a small amount over the last year reports Cole & Wilson. The company has been a manufacturer and supplier of drycleaning detergents and stain removal products for more than forty years.

“As in most industrial sectors at the moment, costs must be monitored as they impact directly on the bottom line of a business,” according to managing director Richard Cole, who acknowledges that the steep increases in raw material prices during 2008 and 2009 had an impact on textile care products.

However, there is little evidence that cleaners are looking at cheaper options, recognising that lower priced products may mean higher dosages and higher costs.

Cole & Wilson has a complete range of chemicals that allow drycleaners to save money whilst actually improving quality. This includes Sultrasoft HC2, a detergent for perc with antistatic and retexturing agents and Sultrasoft HC for use in hydrocarbon cleaning.

Cole says that the company always recommends the Sultrasoft HC2/HC as these products are concentrated and contain only active ingredients so that they need lower doses than some competing products.

There have been two main trends. The use of basic chemicals for spotting has become more popular again and products for perc cleaning are still the biggest sellers. Sultrasoft HC2 is one of the most popular detergents.

“As a seller of solvents to the cleaning industry, we haven’t seen any major growth in the use of alternative solvents such as hydrocarbon or siloxane solvents but we offer both these solvents together with the detergents Sultrasoft HC for hydrocarbon and GE detergent for siloxane solvent.

He says that one of the main reasons for the popularity of perc is that it allows cleaners to provide extra services such as stain and water proofing, flame retarding and restoration work for smoke damaged items. These are all services that can add extra revenue on top of regular retail cleaning.”

Cole & Wilson manufacture and supply a full range of spotting agents for removal of most stains.

The company also supplies products such as ammonia and acetic acid in the correct strengths for safe and effective stain removal and provides detailed spotting charts that give advice on the stain removal process, particularly for hard-to-move stains.

Cole points out that cleaning staff must be well trained on all aspects of drycleaning. This is particularly important in the area of stain removal. If garments are still stained or damaged by poor spotting when they are returned, the customer is likely to go elsewhere for their cleaning. It is always much harder to entice a customer back than to lose them in the first place.”

Kreussler, the German specialist in drycleaning chemicals, points out that professional drycleaners must be able to handle all kinds of fabrics – naturals, synthetics and blends.

Natural fabrics such as silk, wool, cotton and linen soak up moisture from the air, during pre-spotting, and from solvent during the cleaning process. A detergent must be able to deal effectively with different fabric properties to minimise lint problems and static cling and to suspend loosened soils to prevent redeposition.

Alex Reid is the UK distributor for the range of drycleaning detergents and chemicals developed by Kreussler for use with perc, hydrocarbon and cyclosiloxane (GreenEarth) solvents. Steve Tolley, chemical support manager, says the Kreussler range of performance-led products covers all aspects of the drycleaner’s daily work. He says that the main considerations are odour absorption, antistatic properties that reduce finishing costs and improved wear comfort of the cleaned clothing. Products include pre-spotting chemicals from the comprehensive Prenett and Deprit range and Clip Comfort detergent.

All the chemicals are specifically formulated for use with different solvents and the GreenEarth CSL and CS versions of the Prenett and Deprit products are particularly effective in use with this cyclosiloxane system.

Kreussler products that can be used with the GreenEarth cyclosiloxane solvent consist of a drycleaning detergent, a pre-brushing agent and spotting agents. They are Clip CSL, a drycleaning detergent with antistatic properties; Prenett CS for pre-brushing; and the Prenett A-B-C CS pre-spotting range.

Kreussler’s Clip Green Conc is a highly concentrated drycleaning detergent available for both perc and hydrocarbon applications.

It has optimised the surfactant combination so that the ingredients form stable micro-emulsions with water both in perc and hydrocarbon.

The high concentration of active ingredients allows a 50% reduction in the dose, compared with conventional detergents. The recommended dosage is 1.5ml Clip Green Conc per litre (1.9ozfl/gal) of liquor or 35ml per 10 kg of cleaning. Therefore, 10kg (22lb) Clip Green Conc will clean more than 2,800kg (6,173lb) of textiles. This low dosage reduces distillation residues by 40%, reducing the costs of disposal. It also improves the distillation process and reduces both the loss of solvent and the consumption of heating energy – a benefit for the environment and for the drycleaner’s budget.

According to Tolley, perc is still readily available and going strong, while some customers have made the decision to change and go with GreenEarth or hydrocarbon. As part of its commitment to customers, Alex Reid can provide an interim “health check” for machines and advise on suitable products.

JJörg Schwerdtfeger, who provides sales and technical support at Büfa, says the smoking ban, the economic downturn and the recent extremely bad weather have combined to undermine confidence in the UK drycleaning market. “However, there are a significant number of drycleaners who have experienced better trading conditions mainly because they have been pro-active in marketing their services.

Part of that success can be attributed in part to having adopted suggestions from the Textile Times, which is a periodic e-letter from Büfa’s UK distributor Textile Care Supplies (TCS).

TCS has been supplying Büfa products and support in Scotland for 10 years and in the rest of the UK since 2003.

“The strength of this relationship is a major factor in the level of the technical and marketing support that Büfa offers to its clients across the UK, in particular during the recent economic challenges.

Although the uptake in hydrocarbon machines and associated products remains slow, TCS believes that because Büfa has a complete range of dedicated HC products the company has attracted a several new clients in the past year.

For wetcleaning in the UK, TCS has seen an steady increase in demand for its Oldopal range of Büfa wetcleaning products and is confident that it will develop further in the near future.

Drycleaning detergents

Drycleaning detergents perform three main functions: carrying moisture to help remove water-soluble soiling; suspending the soiling after it has been removed from the fabric and acting as a spotting agent to penetrate the fabric so that the solvent and water can remove stains.

Detergent is introduced into the drycleaning machine in two ways. In charged systems, it is added to the solvent or “charged” as a percentage of the solvent (normally 1 – 2%) to maintain a continuous concentration of detergent. Charged systems use anionic detergents.

In injection systems, also known as batched detergent injection, solvent is added to the drycleaning machine’s wheel, saturating the garments. The detergent is then injected either into the flow line or pumped or dumped into the drum.

These batched systems use cationic detergents. Heavily stained garments can be pre-cleaned or pre-spotted with cleaning chemicals before being placed in the drycleaning machine.

Büfa offers a comprehensive range of self-contained products for perc and hydrocarbon solvents. Its established detergent concentrates such as Secapur Dry-Master and Secapur Mega Star are formulated with new, better biodegradable cationic surfactants.

One important aspect of using concentrated detergents is stabilising the solvents and preventing machine corrosion. Manfred Huppertz, head of innovation management at Büfa, says that modern drycleaning uses fully-closed machines that have a very low solvent consumption but this means that solvents stay for longer in the machine. He points out that, unlike engine oil in cars, there is no regular “solvent exchange”, so that most of the solvent remains in the drycleaning machine during its full lifetime.

Because the perc stabiliser is no longer renewed on a regular basis, odour-forming impurities can become established in the machine. Although solvent can be recycled via filtration and distillation, Huppertz says recycling alone will not prevent a long-term change in solvent composition caused by human fatty acids, residues from spotting agents, finishing agents and soiling that makes the solvent more acidic. Huppertz says that drycleaning operators often neglect solvent care and maintenanceand he adds that most perc solvent problems can be avoided by regularly checking the pH-value.

Caring for perc means mainly involves neutralisation and stabilisation of the solvent so preventing any acidification. The pH-value of the solvent can be easily inspected with a special indicator – the ideal pH-value for perc lies between 8 and 9.

Where the solvent shows an acidic reaction, it may be necessary to neutralise it with sodium bicarbonate, before stabilising it with special additives. Sodium bicarbonate removes the fatty acids responsible for any bad odours in the solvent during distillation.

Although hydrocarbon solvents do not need any acid binding stabilisation systems, fatty acid cannot be removed completely by distillation. However, as Huppertz points out, regular use of modern soaps can reduce the problems with organic solvent.

Schwerdtfeger at Büfa says that using these concentrated products such as Secapur Dry-Master in really small amounts allows drycleaners to obtain marvellous antistatic effects on all fabric materials and a very good cleaning power.

The detergent’s high concentrated formula allows cleaners to achieve good results with a dosage of 0.5%, whilst its exceptional antistatic properties work on even on synthetic fibres.

Schwerdtfeger adds: “Together with an active odour absorber, Secapur Dry-Master achieves a standard of hygiene on cleaned textiles that is close to the standard of the food industry – fewer then 50 germs per square decimetre were found on the surface.”

Seitz of Germany has established a solid reputation for its production of modern, highly effective products for professional laundry and textile care in solvents as well as consulting, installation and maintenance of dosing systems for powder and fluid detergents.

Its drycleaning range is distributed by DLS in Scotland and Lynx Dry Cleaning Supplies in England. Seitz technical representative Hemant Zavery works very closely with both DLS and Lynx DCS to provide a personal service tailor-made for the individual customer.

Zavery says the need for a close relationship between customer and distributor has been more significant in the present economic climate. “Distributors are listening to the customer needs and are providing this with better marketing and technical assistance,” says Zavary. “New and existing customers, who are linked to either DLS or Lynx, have the advantage of being able to obtain competent expert advice on any technical issues arising from their business, whether it be a drycleaning operation, a laundry or a nursing home.

He says: “The need to carry out correct maintenance programs must be adhered to through guidelines set by the manufacturers or a competent drycleaning engineer.”

He adds that selecting correct wash programs will also significantly assist in providing more efficient solvent care. “Choosing the correct detergent will assist in caring for the textiles.”

The product range covers perc, hydrocarbon and cyclosiloxane. For perc it includes Enviclin Touch, an economical drycleaning detergent developed by Seitz for optimum textile cleaning quality. Its Novaclin Fresh AN is an anionic drycleaning detergent featuring the company’s innovative Fresh system. Its anti-lint formula has good antistatic and retexturing properties also.

Seitz’s Novaclin Plus is a concentrated drycleaning detergent for use with perc and has good antistatic and retexturing properties.

Seitz also produces a range of products that help with machine maintenance. These include Taifun EL , an additive for cleaning the drum and button trap of perc machines; Neutral L, a liquid product for solvent care and maintenance; Desolan Knonz, a concentrated microbicide additive for eliminating of germs and bad odours; Desolan NT, a concentrated agent for odour and germ elimination for use with both perc and hydrocarbon (HC) solvents; and Destivit 2000, a concentrated highly active anti-foaming agent to prevent foaming during the distillation of perc and hydrocarbon solvents.