While most people have washed clothes in a washing machine and then either dried them in a drier or hung them to dry, they probably know no more about the process than that a combination of water and soap is used to remove dirt and debris from the clothes before they are rinsed and then dried. Even more of a mystery to most people is dry cleaning, which is the process of cleaning clothing without using water as the solvent. Most people have taken their clothes to a dry cleaner, only to pick them up a few hours or days later and marvel at how clean and pressed they are, without ever really thinking about how this process works. [Read more…]