Solvent Scouring:
Solvent scouring is the treatment of fabrics in organic solvent medium to remove impurities such as lubricating oils and spin finishes. Fats, waxes are basically organic substances and so they can be solubilised in organic solvents successfully.
Suitable solvents:
It is found that waxes can be removed by solvents like chloroform (CHCl3), benzene (C6H6), carbon tetra chloride (CCl4) etc. But those are not used in industries because of the following causes-
- High cost
- Toxicity
- Fire hazards and
- Requirement of special machinery for application
Recently some special grades chlorinated organic solvents like
- Trichloro ethylene,
- Cheaper Petroleum products,
Besides they possess-
- Good wetting properties
- Good solvency power
- Chemical inertness
The organic solvents mentioned above can remove only naturally occurring or added waxes and fatty substances. They cannot remove any other impurity.
