CLEANING PROCESS AND APPARATUS

摘要

In a cleaning process one or more articles are contacted with a cleaning agent containing, based on the total weight of a) and b), a) from 0.01 to 80 weight percent of water and b) from 99.99 to 20 weight percent of an organic solvent having the features of: i) forming an azeotrope with water, and ii) forming a separate phase after azeotropic distillation. Then the cleaned articles are rinsed with a rinsing agent containing from 99.99 to 60 weight percent of water and from 0.01 to 40 weight percent of said organic solvent, based on the total weight of the rinsing agent, whereby the water content in the rinsing agent is higher than the water content in the cleaning agent. Used cleaning and rinsing agent are combined and subjected to an azeotropic distillation. The azeotrope is separated into a water-rich phase and a solvent-rich phase and recycled.