Cleaning
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- This article is about the process of removing unwanted physical substances from an object or environment. For other uses, see Cleaning (disambiguation).
Cleaning is the process of removing unwanted substances, such as dirt, infectious agents, and other impurities, from an object or environment. Cleaning occurs in many different contexts, and uses many different methods. Several occupations are devoted to cleaning.
Cleaning contexts
Cleaning occurs in various commercial, industrial, environmental, and domestic contexts, which differ in scale and requirements.
- Commercial cleaning
- Terminal cleaning, in healthcare settings
- Environmental remediation, the removal of pollution or contaminants from the natural environment
- Housekeeping
- Hygiene, including personal grooming
Cleaning methods
Cleaning is broadly achieved through mechanical action and/or solvent action; many methods rely on both processes.
- Washing, usually done with water and often some kind of soap or detergent
- Pressure washing, using a high-pressure stream of water
- Abrasive blasting, typically used to remove bulk material from a surface, may be used to remove contaminants as well
- Acoustic cleaning, the use of sound waves to shake particulates loose from surfaces
- Ultrasonic cleaning, using ultrasound, usually from 20–400 kHz
- Megasonic cleaning, a gentler mechanism than ultrasonic cleaning, used in wafer, medical implant, and industrial part cleaning
- Carbon dioxide cleaning, a family of methods for parts cleaning and sterilization using carbon dioxide in its various phases
- Dry cleaning of clothing and textiles, using a chemical solvent other than water
- Flame cleaning of structural steel with an oxyacetylene flame
- Green cleaning, using environmentally friendly methods and products
- Plasma cleaning, using energetic plasma or dielectric barrier discharge plasma created from various gases
- Sputter cleaning, performed in a vacuum by using physical sputtering of the surface
- Steam cleaning, in both domestic and industrial contexts
- Terminal cleaning, in healthcare settings
- Thermal cleaning, in industrial settings, involving pyrolysis and oxidation
- Wet cleaning, methods of professional laundering that avoid the use of chemical solvents
Materials and objects cleaned
Some objects and materials require specialized cleaning techniques, due to their shape, location, or the material properties of the object and contaminants.
- Carpet cleaning
- Chimney cleaning
- Crime scene cleanup
- Exterior cleaning of buildings
- Floor cleaning
- Graffiti removal
- Jewellery cleaning
- Parts cleaning
- Pot washing, in food service
- Roof cleaning
- Silo cleaning
- Street cleaning
- Teeth cleaning
- Tube cleaning
Occupations involving cleaning
Several occupations involve cleaning, either in their entirety or among other duties.
See also
 |
Look up cleaning in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- Cleaning (disambiguation), for other uses of the term
- Cleaning agent
- Cleaning event
- Cleaning symbiosis, among living creatures
- Cleaning validation
- Cleanliness, an abstract concept for a state that may be achieved by cleaning
- Cleanroom
- Contamination control
- Hygiene, a set of practices performed for the preservation of health
- Organizing (structure), or tidying, the act of rearranging elements following one or more rules
- Priming (science), in which scientific equipment is cleaned with the same liquid chemical it will come into contact with during an experiment
- Sanitation
- Sterilization (microbiology)
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