Economic Considerations

The assessment of the economics of an industrial cleaning operation is very difficult and depends on a vast number of factors. However, certain considerations based on solvent properties may give some indication for comparison:

Energy Requirement
The energy demand for recovery by distillation represents a major part of the energy demand.

To recover 100 liters/h of fluid the required energy is:

 Perchloroethylene  4.1 kW
 Trichloroethylene  4.9 KW
 Methylenchloride  7.2 KW
 DOWCLENE™ 1601 10.5 KW
 Water   76.4 KW

(Energy required for drying parts from adhering solvents show equal efficiency)

Cost of Cleaning Media
High quality solvent formulations have distinct price levels. However, it is important to note that based on the ease and effectiveness of solvent recycling, the cost of the cleaning fluid/ kg contamination or the amount of cleaned goods is unmatched by any other cleaning system.

For comparison purposes, one must keep in mind that aqueous cleaning requires up to one kilogram of cleaner (surfactants) per kilogram of removed oil.

Waste Disposal Cost
Distillation residues from cleaning operations need to be discharged according to specific national and international legislation.

Waste residues from modern solvent distillation are highly concentrated and, depending on the ease of separation, often contain only minor amounts of solvents.

Aqueous cleaning operations waste residue is generally much larger and contains, besides the removed contaminant, large amounts of non-recyclable surfactants and water.

The high and nearly complete solvent recycling is one of the major advantages of solvent cleaning systems compared to aqueous cleaning operations.

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