Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Sources of Diethylene glycol, Triethylene glycol, and 1,2,4-Butanetriol

ManyInterests - 1-11-2022 at 18:54

So my journey into energetics chemistry is, in the next year, will take me to places where I would want to make my own smokeless propellants and priming compounds. I got most of what I need to make primers (from lead styphnate, mercury fulminate, antimony sulfide, and various stuff with barium (carbonate, peroxide, nitrate, etc)) but one question I have been looking at for the main energetic needed in making smokeless propellant. I've looked at the thread we have on the propellants thread and I am seeing a lot of alternatives to nitroglycerin that can be used, such as PGDN and DGDN. PGDN is harder to make but is much more stable and appears that it can be mixed with nitrocellulose to form a basic double-base propellant. But PGDN has serious volatility issues and I am not sure if that will affect the propellant's shelf-life and/or long-term stability (even short-term).

I did see on wikipedia and elsewhere that Diethylene glycol dinitrate and Triethylene glycol dinitrate are being seen as viable alternatives to NG and while I haven't seen anything on how their nitration process is, I don't believe (so far) that it is any different than DGDN or PGDN or any other liquid explosive that I've seen so far.

but the problem is, I can't find any OTC sources of Diethylene or Triethylene glycol or any chemical supplier online that sells them. Any idea on where I can get some? I live in Canada and I don't see those chemicals on any controlled chemical list.

B(a)P - 1-11-2022 at 19:40

For DG search for Chafer Fuel. Something like this -
https://www.superbuys.com.au/easy-heaters-catering-chafer-fuel-4-hours

ManyInterests - 1-11-2022 at 20:42

Quote: Originally posted by B(a)P  
For DG search for Chafer Fuel. Something like this -
https://www.superbuys.com.au/easy-heaters-catering-chafer-fuel-4-hours


Wow. That says 100% DEG! I gotta find me some of that in Canada.

Edit: shorturl.at/msuz1

Found some at amazon.ca. That's still a lot of DEG, but then again, I do have a bottle of EG that would be bigger than all of them. So I'm chill.

[Edited on 2-11-2022 by ManyInterests]

ManyInterests - 13-12-2022 at 15:43

I found a common product nearby that is 99-100% DEG (with the possible 1% being EG) Coghlan's Camp Heat canisters. They're very cheap and come in packs of only 2, therefore I don't need to buy a dozen as a minimum.

I still would like sources of TEG, but I did read that DEG is still considered a very viable replacement for NG in making smokeless gunpowder for firearms, therefore I'm kinda content with it. Stable and less sensitive than NG.

Mateo_swe - 30-12-2022 at 15:12

Hendi liquid fuel is a similar product that says 100% DEG.