"Wet" Drycleaning - C&EN Global Enterprise (ACS Publications)

Nov 6, 2010 - Drycleaning in the U. S. today is a big business—$2 billion ... This means a big market for solvents, detergents, and other chemicals...
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from ELECTROMET Metals Research

RESEARCH this system is well below that in t h e same volume of p u r e water. There­ fore, he concludes that a definite amount of water must b e trapped in­ side detergent micelles before it can dissolve the salt. In the case of di-2-ethylhexyl sodium sulfosuccinate (Aerosol O T ) , Aebi finds that 31 molecules of the surface-active agent form a spherical micelle in drycleaning solvents like perchloroethylene or, ideally, rj-dodecane. W h e n 70 molecules of w a t e r are trapped inside this micelle, o n e molecule of sodium chloride can b e dissolved. T h e "salt "Wet" Drycleaning capacity" of t h e drycleaning solvent, then, is governed by the amount and Detergent micelles furnish nature of the surfactant and by the water to dissolve soils not re- amount of moisture available for the moved b y organic cleaning micelles. solvents alone The micelle core is a very concen­ trated ionic solution. Solubility of Water - soluble sodium chloride in t h e micellar water stains o n clothes 4AAACS is expected to be suppressed, they ex­ • < % NATIONAL are usually not re- plain, because of the common-ion ef­ • VVMEETING moved by t h e or- fect from sodium ions in t h e detergent. ganic solvent b u t \*CoIpM?£ rather are water Chemistry solubilized by proper detergents This new chemical class holds in t h e drycleanpromise as polymer inter­ ing system. T h e amount of water mediates, but they aren't necessary to dissolve these stains is pro­ commercial y e t portional to detergent concentration. Drycleaning in the U. S. today is a Will t h e polybig business—$2 billion annually— m e r ran Claude M. Aebi of National Institute of 4 Λ Λ ACS ks be Drycleaning told the Colloid Division. I ^ N A T I O N A L swelled b y still This means a b i g market for solvents, 1 %3 3 MEETING another group of detergents, and other chemicals. But compounds? T h e Organicdespite its size and age, not much is answer is labora­ Chemistry known about t h e cleaning process. tory-bound now, Specifically in t h e case of drycleaning but Stauffer re­ detergents is this knowledge lacking. searchers have Most detergent studies have been come up with a n e w class of potential made in water, not in nonaqueous sol­ polymer intermediates—alkyl diphosvent systems. Stains caused by water- phines. soluble materials not dissolved by dryThese compounds, such as trimethylcleaning solvents present t h e biggest ene diphosphine, might b e used to problems, since oily spots are removed make phosphino-diborane polymers, easily by t h e organic fluid. materials with high temperature sta­ To determine solubility mechanisms bility. Such "semi-inorganic" polymers in organic systems, Aebi a n d Joseph R. might have a future in the missile field, Wiebush studied solubility of sodium for example, to make nose cones which chloride in a quaternary system. This meet severe temperature demands as contains, in addition to the salt, an inert rockets or missiles zoom skyward. organic solvent, a detergent soluble in Stauffer's Amos J. Leffler and Eugene the solvent, and water solubilized by G. Teach told t h e Division of Organic the detergent. Chemistry that the three-carbon chain Aebi finds that sodium chloride is the shortest diphosphine which can present on clothing in stains from food b e made. T h e methylene compound and perspiration gets dissolved by this does not exist, a n d ethylene diphoswater which the detergent solubilizies. phine, though possible to make and collect at very low temperatures But solubility of salt in t h e water of used, a soft, rubbery polymer results. Montermoso polymerized the methacrylic monomer at a temperature of 50° C. in water emulsion using Tergitol NPX, a nonionic emulsifying agent. H e uses a conventional lauryl mercaptan-potassium persulfate system as modifier-catalyst. T h e polymer pro­ duced is a tough, rubbery material. Acrylic monomer in the same system produces a rubbery material not as tough or elastic as that from methacrylic acid.

Aikyl Diphosphines

COLUMBIUM for the High Temperature Age COLUMBIUM METAL is consid­ e r e d an excellent b a s e f o r an alloy series w h i c h will establish n e w t h e r m a l limits. T h e q u a l i t i e s of this extraordinary refractory metal —medium density, high s t r e n g t h u n d e r c o n d i t i o n s of ext r e m e heat, resistance to r a d i a ­ tion d a m a g e , and low " n e u t r o n c a p t u r e " cross-section — have al­ ready resulted in i t s u s e for some n u c l e a r applications a n d indicate p o t e n t i a l i t i e s in t h e electronics field. E L E C T R O M E T ' S p r o c e s s r e ­

s u l t s in columbium m e l t i n g stock of the h i g h e s t p u r i t y available commercially. A n d t h e technical staff a t ELECTROMET is r e a d y t o advise you on any p h a s e of devel­ opment or application. T h e coupon will b r i n g a d d i t i o n a l d a t a .

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