A solvent is a liquid, solid, or gas that dissolves a solute (a chemically different liquid, solid or
gas), resulting in a solution. The maximum quantity of solute that can be dissolved in a specific
volume of solvent varies with temperature.

 Methyl acetate, trichloroethylene, toluene, petrol, ethanol, acetone etc. are examples of some
organic solvents where as water is commonly known as inorganic solvent. Besides other
applications, solvents can be used in textile scouring and dyeing.

 Requirements of an ideal solvent:

 An ideal solvent for textile wet processing should have the following characteristics

 1) The solvent should be non toxic.
2) The solvent should be non flammable.
3) The solvent should be non corrosive.
4) The solvent should be inert to textile material.
5) The solvent should be readily available.
6) The solvent should have low specific heat.
7) The solvent should have low heat of evaporation.
8) The solvent should be stable to repeated distillation for the ease of recovery.
9) The solvent should have economic feasibility