Clean and Green
Move allows firm to upgrade its dry cleaning equipment
By John Ireland/ Business writer
Vacaville Reporter
Published: 3/4/2007
They’re taking "clean and green to the next level at Browns Valley Cleaners. The company, owned by Nitin Kapadia and his wife Hasika, changed more than locations when it moved from Browns Valley Parkway to a new, state-of-the-art building on E. Monte Vista Avenue. It also changed the way dry cleaning is done in Northern California.
Since 1855, when a French dye-works owner noticed that his tablecloth was actually cleaner after kerosene was spilled on it, dry cleaning has been accomplished through the use of solvents. Kerosene and gasoline gave way to such volatile synthetic products as carbon tetrachloride and trichloroethylene. These, in turn, were replaced by a chlorinated hydrocarbon called perchloroethylene, better known as perc.
Perc has its advantages - it's fast, does a good job of cleaning, and can be used without employing massive machines or huge amounts of floor space.
But there is also a dark side to perc, one that set off a alarm bells for Kapadia, who spent 17 years as a Public Health chemist with the California Department of Health Services.
"It's a a suspected (human) carcinogen", he said. " It's bad for the environment, bad for the groundwater, and bad for your health."
It was that shopping list of negatives that convinced Kapadia to make the switch from a chemical- based dry-cleaning operation to coincide with the moving business. The new system uses pressurizd liquid carbon dioxide(CO2), the same non -flammable, non-toxic gas that puts the fizz in beer and soda.
"The technology came out of the Los Alamos space lab", Kapadia said."Nasa was looking for this kind of technology to clean up sophisticated equipment".
While CO2 cleaning has been used in drycleaning for some three years now, Kapadia said his business is the only one knows of in this part of California that uses it. But not for long. The California Air Resources Board has urged the industry to do away with perc altogether and has set a date of 2020 for this to happen.
"With carbon dioxide, you don't have to worry about any kind of health issue," said Kapadia, who has known perc to leave residue on clothes and produce skin rashes. "It's a totally environmentally- safe product."
The CO2 is stored as a gas, but it turns into a liquid when subject to high pressure in the washing machines, where, with the help of a specially-designed detergent, it pulls the dirt out of clothes.
The liquid CO2 has several advantages over chlorinated hydrocarbons, including the fact that it safety cleans items that perc can't such as leather, fur and some synthetics. It also eliminates one out pesky chore that has befuddled men throughout the ages-seperating the whites from the colors.
Kapadia, whose business held its Grand Opening on Thursday, said its customers have noticed the difference."They are happy with the softness of the clothes, and the feeling when they put them on," he said."(CO2) maintains the natural feel of the clothes - that's the main thing. It produces less lint, so the clothes last longer. This process runs on cold temperatures, so there's less wear and tear on your clothes."
The word is obviously spreading. Kapadia has hosted a number of fellow dry-cleaner owners from the Bay Area and fielded calls from as far away as Texas.The scientist in Kapadia isn't surprised by the attention the new product is garnering."It's my training to look for quality," he said. "And this is a great technology. People should use it."
John Ireland can be contacted at business@thereporter.com
