Question

For dry cleaning, in the place of tetrachloroethane, liquefied carbon dioxide with suitable detergent is an alternative solvent. What type of harm to the environment will be prevented by stopping use of tetrachloromethane? Will use of liquefied carbon dioxide with detergent be completely safe from the point of view of pollution? Explain.

Answer 1

Hint: Tetrachloroethane and liquid carbon dioxide both are chemical compounds. Tetrachloroethane is not found in nature but carbon dioxide is found in nature. Both have distinct harmful effects on nature.

Complete step by step answer:
The given question has two parts. One is the harm of the environment caused by tetrachloroethane and the other is the safety of carbon dioxide toward pollution.
The hazardous of using tetrachloroethane are as follows:
a. Tetrachloroethane is a carcinogenic compound. It causes cancer in living cells.
b. Tetrachloroethane contaminates usable groundwater. It cannot be separated from ground water easily.
In order to avoid such severe hazardous effects on nature the tetrachloroethane is replaced with liquefied carbon dioxide with suitable detergent. In this case the earlier hazards like carcinogenic and ground water contamination are now overcome with carbon dioxide, but few more hazards originate by use of carbon dioxide and detergent mixture.
The liquefied carbon dioxide coming into the atmosphere results in accumulation of excessive carbon dioxide thereby causing greenhouse effect. This will generate other types of environmental pollution and disturbs the ecosystem and the balance of nature.

Note:
The best eco friendly cleaning used these days is hydrogen peroxide. The use of hydrogen peroxide gives better results for the purpose of bleaching clothes in laundry. Secondly it also helps in less consumption of water.