Abstract: A cleaning process for industrial rags to remove petroleum-based solvents in an environmentally safe manner comprises a series of steps. The industrial rags are initially subjected to high speed forces in a rotary drum to physically extract liquid solvent. The high speed extraction step is conducted while preferably maintaining a temperature within the drum of below the flash point of the petroleum-based solvent. Next, the rags are tumbled while being subjected to intermittent forced blasts of cold air and hot air to vaporize solvent remaining in the rags. The vapors are routed from the drum and condensed. The extracted liquid solvent and condensed solvent vapors are both routed to a waste solvent collection line. The industrial rags are finally dried to produce clean rags suitable for reuse.

Abstract: A cleaning process for industrial rags to remove petroleum-based solvents in an environmentally safe manner comprises a series of steps. The industrial rags are initially subjected to high speed forces in a rotary drum to physically extract liquid solvent. The high speed extraction step is conducted while preferably maintaining a temperature within the drum of below the flash point of the petroleum-based solvent. Next, the rags are tumbled while being subjected to intermittent forced blasts of cold air and hot air to vaporize solvent remaining in the rags. The vapors are routed from the drum and condensed. The extracted liquid solvent and condensed solvent vapors are both routed to a waste solvent collection line. The industrial rags are finally cleaned with a dry cleaning solvent and dried to produce clean rags suitable for reuse.