Perchloroethylene
The solvent that made dry cleaning an industry, named as such in the first line of its own hazard sheet — and classed as a carcinogen in the same banner.
What not to do
Perchloroethylene is unsafe on Aluminium
Unsafe
Do not do this. The risk is established, and it is described below.
Precautions
- Ventilate the area
- Wear gloves
- Consider professional help
Evidence
Strongly supported
Sources
Right to Know Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet: Tetrachloroethylene (RTK 1810)
New Jersey Department of Health, 2011 · Government or regulator
Relied on for: That tetrachloroethylene reacts violently with finely dispersed or finely divided metals including aluminium. (states this directly)
Precautions
- Ventilate the area
- Consider professional help
- Keep away from children and pets
In detail
Perchloroethylene is what the phrase dry cleaning has meant for most of a century, and knowing what it is turns a care label into a PROCESS rather than an instruction to be repeated. The regulator's description is a clear, colourless liquid with a sweet ether-like odour, used as a dry cleaning solvent, heat transfer medium, degreaser, solvent and drying agent for metals. Dry cleaning is not dry — it is cleaning in a non-aqueous liquid, which matters because water is what swells natural fibres, releases dyes and lets wool felt. A solvent leaves those alone and lifts what water cannot: fine inorganic particulates, greases and oils. What rules it out of domestic use is on the same sheet: the hazard banner reads CARCINOGEN, health is rated 3, and it does not burn. It also reacts violently with finely divided metals including aluminium, decomposes slowly in water and on heating, and is incompatible with oxidising agents — which is why a solvent process is a closed, recovered one rather than a bucket. The industry has moved substantially towards alternative solvents, and which one a particular cleaner uses is a question for that cleaner.
Properties
- Chemical name
- Tetrachloroethene
- pH
- Not applicable
What works
Perchloroethylene is effective against Grease Supported
Why
- Perchloroethylene is explained by Solubility and polarity
- Perchloroethylene is explained by Why oil resists water
Sources for this page
Sources
Right to Know Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet: Tetrachloroethylene (RTK 1810)
New Jersey Department of Health, 2011 · Government or regulator
Relied on for: That tetrachloroethylene, also called perchloroethylene, is used as a dry cleaning solvent and degreaser, that it is classed as a carcinogen, that it reacts violently with finely divided metals, and that it decomposes slowly in water and on heating. (states this directly)
Conserve O Gram 16/2: Dry Cleaning Museum Textiles
National Park Service, US Department of the Interior · Government or regulator
Relied on for: That certain soils are best reduced by cleaning with solvents other than water, and that solvent-suited soiling is typically fine inorganic particulates, greases and oils. (states this directly)