Because of its toxicity and the dangers involved in handling it, tetrachloromethane (carbon tetrachloride, CCl4) can no longer be used or produced in many countries. However, the processes used in the production of other chlorinated hydrocarbons, such as chloroform (trichloromethane, CHCl3), also produce CCl4 as a byproduct.

A research team of the University of Granada has managed to produce the most useful material to date to eliminate pollutants such as benzene, toluene and xylene, organic solvents widely used in the hydrocarbon industry and generated by road traffic in cities.

Noted for its bizarre hydrocarbon lakes and frozen methane clouds, Saturn's largest moon, Titan, also appears to have widespread drizzles of methane, according to a team of astronomers at the University of California, Berkeley.