Green Clean

Perchloroethylene (PERC), a solvent used by dry cleaners for decades, has been identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a toxic air and ground pollutant, as well as a probable carcinogen. California is phasing out its use; still, PERC remains the chief dry-cleaning solvent used in the U.S.

Two Twin Cities companies are helping to change the way locals get their clothes cleaned by offering more eco-friendly alternatives. The two are Eagan-based Cool Clean Technologies and Chanhassen start-up Vantagio.

Cool Clean Technologies calls itself the world’s largest provider of liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) cleaning technologies to the industry. Established in 2001 as a spinoff from Ohio-based gas-equipment manufacturer Chart Industries, Cool Clean Technologies acquired the nontoxic cleaning technology developed by another company. The company’s process combines liquid and gas CO2 with an environmentally benign solvent, a method intended to put less wear and tear on clothes and clean them more quickly.

In 2007, Cool Clean received $8.7 million in private equity financing, and rolled out its second generation of dry cleaning machines, according to CEO Jon Wikstrom. Cool Clean Technologies manufactures the Solvair garment-cleaning machine, which incorporates its CO2 technology, for Illinois-based R. R. Street & Company, which has a 60 percent market share selling “consumables” (such as cleaning solvents and filtration products) to the U.S. dry cleaning industry. Currently priced at $150,000 per unit, Cool Clean’s Solvair dry cleaning system is about 50 percent more expensive than a conventional machine.

Cool Clean Technologies has also developed other applications, using CO2 for cleaning plastics for recycling, cleaning fragile computer disk drives, degreasing parts and equipment, and extracting biofuel from algae and other feed stocks. Since acquiring the technology, the company has obtained more than 80 patents covering various applications for CO2.

Cool Clean Technologies had approximately 20 percent revenue growth in 2008 over 2007 and hopes to double that growth percentage this year, Wikstrom says. Dry cleaning accounts for about 30 to 40 percent of the firm’s revenue. (Cool Clean Technologies has also been growing its market share in Europe and Asia.) While the business is not recession-proof, Wikstrom contends his company has an inherent advantage.

“There aren’t any other companies doing anything close to what we do, which is using our technology-base to cover various market segments,” he says. “Within each of those market segments, our main competition is still the old methods.”

Tom Niemiec, senior managing director at Minneapolis-based Oak Ridge Financial, which has helped Cool Clean Technologies raise capital, likes its prospects. “For a small company, it’s always a challenge to stay focused,” he says. Cool Clean Technologies’ focus argues for its long-term success, “as does the fact that they have a strong marketing partner in the dry cleaning area,” Niemiec says.