Dry cleaner

Approximately 50% of the demand for tetrachloroethylene is in the dry-cleaning industry where about 80% of all dry cleaners use it as their primary cleaning agent. Use as a feedstock for chlorofluorocarbon production accounts for 30% of current demand. Metal cleaning and miscellaneous appHcations represent 12 and 8% of demand, respectively. The miscellaneous appHcations include such varied uses as transformer insulating fluid, chemical maskant formulations, and as a process solvent for desulfurizing coal. 

The most widespread and persistent urban pollution problem is ozone. The causes of this and the lesser problem of CO and PMjq pollution in our urban areas are largely due to the diversity and number of urban air pollution sources. One component of urban smog, hydrocarbons, comes from automobile emissions, petroleum refineries, chemical plants, dry cleaners, gasoline stations, house painting, and printing shops. Another key component, nitrogen oxides, comes from the combustion of fuel for transportation, utilities, and industries. 

Although there are other reasons for continued high levels of ozone pollution, such as growth in the number of stationary sources of hydrocarbons and continued growth in automobile travel, the remaining sources of hydrocarbons are the most difficult to control. These are the small sources, those that emit less than 100 tons of hydrocarbons per year. These sources, such as auto shops and dry cleaners, may individually emit less than 10 tons per year but collectively emit many hundreds of tons of pollution. 

The law includes a list of 189 toxic air pollutants of which emissions must be reduced. The list of source categories includes (1) major sources emitting 10 tons/year of any one, or 25 tons/year of any combination of those pollutants and (2) area sources (smaller sources, such as dry cleaners). 

Tetrachloroethylene zero 0.005 Liver problems increased risk of cancer Discharge from factories and dry cleaners... 

Malek B, Kremarova B, Rodova A. 1979. [An epidemiological study of hepatic tumor incidence in subjects working with trichloroethylene. II. Negative result of retrospective investigations in dry cleaners.] Prac Lek 31 124-126. (Czech)... 

Once we landed, we spent more than an hour in our rental car, cruising around town looking for a one-hour dry cleaner, which turned out to be an impossible task at 8 P.M. hr despair, we finally stopped at a 7-11, where Captain Keller loaded up on cleaning formulas and sponges. Back at the motel, I slept peacefully while he spent most of the night scrubbing the spots, pausing periodically to dry his official blouse on the radiator. 

The solvent perchloroethylene (PERC) is used by approximately 90% of all EU dry cleaners today. ... 

The fact that regulations required users of PERC to meet emission limits, ratherthan substitute PERC by investing in alternative technology, meant that few dry cleaners were bold enough to convert to new methods. A variety of safer substitutes have existed for over a decade that the Canadian and US governments have independently monitored. Both studies confirmed the economic and environmental benefits and technical feasibility of these alternatives. 

However, the majority of dry cleaners continue to use perchloroethylene because there is little awareness and no legislative imperative to choose safer substitutes." With both wet cleaning and CO now available in Europe and commercially competitive, there can be no Justification for the continued use of PERC to clean clothes. 

Synonyms Varnish makers and printers naptha light naphtha, dry-cleaners naphtha spotting naphtha... 

At one time, the dry cleaning industry relied on petroleum products for their cleaning agents. Currently, the single most popular solvent used by dry cleaners is a compound called perchloroethylene, widely known by the nickname of perc. About 30,000 dry cleaners in the United States alone use perc for their cleaning operations, accounting for about 80 percent of all such cleaning done in the country. 

Pressly Associates, Inc., an environmental consulting firm in Brookhaven, New York, researched treatment options (including PF) for a dry cleaner site contaminated with tetra-chloroethene (PCE). According to the firm, a 2-acre plume exists at the site to a depth of 35 ft below ground surface (bgs) (or 30 ft below the water table). Soils at the site consist of fine to medium sand, silt, and sand and gravel. The firm claims that capital costs for various treatment options are as follows ... 

Reclaim is commercially available and suitable for the recovery of VOCs, vinyl chloride, trichloroethylene, carbon tetrachloride, dense non-aqueous-phase liquid (DNAPL) compounds, and, in particular, petroleum hydrocarbons. The vendor states this technology has been used in a wide variety of industrial applications, such as the remediation of groundwater at service stations, dry cleaners, herbicide production facilities, and municipal and industrial landfills, among others. 

Caled Chemical—Leading U.S. maker of detergents, additives, and filters for dry cleaners. 

Alex Reid, Ltd.—U.K. s largest provider of chemistry and consumables for dry cleaners. 

Since tetrachloroethene is widely used as a dry-cleaning agent, foods stored close to a source of TCE, such as a dry-cleaning operation, may be exposed to atmospheric concentrations of TCE that could then be absorbed by the food. TCE was found in butter and lard bought from shops close to dry cleaners, at concentrations up to 763 /xg/kg.67 Residues of 1,1,1-trichloroethane, chloroform and trichlorofluoromethane were also found in some samples of butter and lard, although at much lower concentrations than the TCE. 

As Harry and Rod walked toward their high school, Harry seemed out of sorts. Want to smoke a bowl before class he asked. Rod smiled and nodded. The boys ducked into an alley next to a dry cleaner about a block from school. Harry pulled a wooden pipe out of his back pocket, and Rod shook his head, You are takin chances, man Anyone could of seen that in your pocket there Harry smirked and pulled a lighter out of his backpack. He packed the bowl with pot and handed the pipe to Rod. After a few hits, Rod exhaled loudly and leaned against the brick-faced building. 

Chemistry is taught at various levels at the universities. Nurses are exposed to various anesthetics. Hair dressers, dry cleaners, farmers are working with numerous chemicals. Housewives are using a wide range of chemicals for household cleaning, for painting the house, etc. It is difficult to think about a profession which does not require, at one time or another, at least some exposure to chemicals. 

Towara J, Hiller B, Hutzinger O, et al. 1992. PCDD/F in distillation residues from dry cleaners. Chemosphere 25 1509-1516. 

---