Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Drying 1,2-Dimethoxyethane

Zorgon - 1-7-2011 at 05:13

Can water be removed from 1,2-Dimethoxyethane (DME) by flowing through activated alumina (AA)? Will there be any undesirable reactions between the DME and the AA? I think that 4A molecular sieves will remove water from DME, but the water capacity per unit mass of adsorbent is normally twice as high for AA as for the 4A sieves. So, I would like to use AA if AA is acceptable.

Arrhenius - 7-7-2011 at 23:35

Yes, this will work, though I think it's generally accepted that mole sieves work best.

Zorgon - 10-7-2011 at 17:54

Thank you very much for your response. I think that the molecular sieves are basically inert towards DME, but I didn't know if the AA would catalyze some reaction that would affect the quality of the DME.