Project

Surface forces and detergency action in carbon dioxide

The goal of this project is to elucidate the forces and mechanisms of detergent action in particle removal in dry-cleaning with high-pressure carbon dioxide, and to use this insight to give design rules for detergents, a dry-cleaning process and a dry-cleaning apparatus.

The project consists of three integrated studies; one focuses on the understanding of surface forces between macroscopic bodies thereby understanding particle adhesion in apolar media, in the second study mechanical action in dry-cleaning with CO2 is investigated, and the third study involves the development of a model in which the effects of mechanical action and physical chemistry are combined.