ABSTRACT
While aqueous cleaning is almost as old as man, industrial parts manufacturers and cleaners have long held the view that certain soils could only be cleaned adequately by non-aqueous methods. Starting in the 1970s, many environmental initiatives forced the industry to look at aqueous cleaning as an ecologically more responsible alternative to vapor degreasing and other solvent cleaning methods. As a result many, cleaning applications that were once strictly the province of non-aqueous cleaning methods are now being done quite successfully with aqueous processes. ¤e following discussion serves as a brief primer on the many aspects and considerations needed to successfully understand the art of aqueous cleaning in the manufacturing environment.
