Process for cleaning articles

Abstract

The invention relates to a process for cleaning one or more articles which includes the steps of: I) contacting the article(s) with a cleaning agent containing 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, the amounts of a) and b) being based on the total weight of a) and b), II) rinsing one or more cleaned articles 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 rinsing agent has a higher water content than the cleaning agent, III) combining at least a portion of the cleaning agent used in step I) and at least a portion of the rinsing agent used in step II) and subjecting the combined cleaning agent and rinsing agent to an azeotropic distillation to recover an azeotrope, separating the azeotrope into a water-rich phase and a solvent-rich phase and recycling at least a portion of the solvent-rich phase to step I) and recycling at least a portion of the water-rich phase to step II). The invention also relates to a cleaning agent and a means for cleaning and rinsing articles.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.