flyingbanana
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95% ethanol + plastic
Will one of those thin plastic gallon milk/water containers hold 95% ethanol? Will the plastic dissolve a little bit, so the ethanol is contaminated?
And, are those containers thin enough that the ethanol will slowly evaporate over time through the plastic?
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chemoleo
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No, if it is HD PE.
96 % ethanol is delivered in HD - PE bottles and stores just fine (personal experience).
Nonetheless maybe you should get something less flimsy than milk containers.
Never Stop to Begin, and Never Begin to Stop...
Tolerance is good. But not with the intolerant! (Wilhelm Busch)
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my nootloss
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If you’re not sure what plastic it is look at the recycling code (number) and then look it up. Or you could take a drop and try it, if you
distilling it then try it like the first time you distill it so that you will know. Also you can look up an msds, and that will tell you.
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unionised
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How does one find the msds for a milk bottle?
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my nootloss
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| Quote: | Originally posted by unionised
How does one find the msds for a milk bottle? |
Oh this is how to find the msds for a one-gallon milk container (good day reduced fat milk 2%)
1st after drinking/using all the milk and cleaning out (as to not get drips on the floor). Turn it over. Then read what it says (say’s #2, which is
hdpe plastic).
2nd type “msds hdpe” in to google.com, under the search web category
4th read the msds
Edit: Forgot to say click on the (appropriate) link for number 3.
[Edited on 19-7-2005 by my nootloss]
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cyclonite4
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I'm actually in the process of building a still aswell. Does anyone know if PET (polyethylene terephthalate, used for soft drink bottles) is
resistant to ~95% Ethanol?
I've found a MSDS for PET, but it has hardly any information in it. After googling I've found nothing about PET's reistance to ethanol (I searched by
expanding PET to its full name, so as not to confuse google with the word 'pet' .
Anyone here with personal experience of storing in PET (coke) bottles? I don't want to store it in there myself to find the plastic has leeched
into the distillate.
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unionised
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My nootloss, I trust that you had a bit more success with that search than I did.
1 page that won't load properly, in Korean (I think).
What I was getting at was that you need a chemical compatibility chart for HDPE rather than a MSDS.
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neutrino
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A chemical resistance chart should tell you what you need to know. The problem is that those usually seem to be written for materials more resistant
to chemical attack. Try searching, though, you'll probably have better luck than I did when I came to this conclusion.
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chloric1
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Polypropylene
PP is cheap and widely available. Lab grade bottles of this polymer can be bought without suspicion. I remember back in 97 or 98(not sure when
exactly) I had some PP scrap and I was trying various solvent to make a liquid so I could use it for coatings. Both acetone and xylene only made the
surface tacky and an hour of immersion in xylene at 25 degrees C had negligable results! I am positive this would work for your ethanol.
Fellow molecular manipulator
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12AX7
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PP is pretty inert stuff. Damned near impossible to bond, too! It appears to melt easily (light a strip of it some time), but as with all plastics,
tight temperature control will be needed to keep it from cracking the molecules, and that low temperature is probably at best quite viscous, requiring
high pressure to inject it. If you are looking to mold it, that is.
Tim
[Edited on 7-21-2005 by 12AX7]
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neutrino
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Speaking of bottles, one can always get 1L HDPE bottles at photo stores (they're used for reagent storage.) I'm not too sure about the
purity, though, as they aren't designed for food use.
Why not empty bottles/jars? I know that mayonnaise jars come with PP caps.
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chloric1
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Oxidizers a different matter
In the past I have had the little 1 oz and 4 oz PP dropper bottles that I use to store dilute HCL,HNO3,& H2SO4. These acids are of no action in
half dilution and they are handy when working with heavy metal salts when slight hydrolysis happens upon solution.
But I have personally seen these bottles blister, turn yellow, and become brittle in prolonged exposure to extreme oxidizing conditions. Two
instances involve mixed acid(Conc HNO3 & H2SO4) and Chromic acid solution. I also suspect a simular action would be noticed in fuming nitric
acid, free halogens, covalent halides and oxyhalides,ozone, and other aggresive agents. But, these agents can be stored temporarly while a more
suitible container to procurred for long term storage
Fellow molecular manipulator
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hAzzBEEn
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From Homedistiller.org:
| Quote: | Plastic
Plastic is basically fine at the low alcohol end (eg the wash, and even the diluted product), but if possible, try to avoid using it where it is
likely to encounter strong alcohol. For alternatives, consider using copper tubing from the condensor to the collection jar, and using glass
collection & storage jars. |
| Quote: | Coulson, Richardson & Sinnott report that:
aluminium, aluminium bronze, brass, copper, gunmetal and bronze, high Si iron, nickel, nickle-copper alloys, platinum, silver,
stainless steel (18/8, molybedenum & austenitic ferric), titanium, tantalum, and zirconium
nylon 66 fibre & plastics, PCTFE, PTFE, polypropylene, and furane resin
hard rubber, neophrene, nitrile rubber, chlorosulphinated polyethylene, and silicone rubbers
concrete, glass, graphite, porcelain and stoneware, and vitreous enamel
are corrosion resistant to alcohols, beer & water up to 100C.
lead, mild steel (BSS 15), cast iron, and tin
acrylic sheet (eg perspex), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resins, rigid unplasticised PVC, plasticised PVC, polyethylene (low & high
density), polystyrene, melamine resins, epoxy resin, phenol formaldehyde resins, polyester resins
butyl rubber & halo-butyl rubber, ethylene propylene rubber, soft natural rubber, and polyethylene rubber
wood
are not corrosion resistant to them. Now I don't know too much about toxicity... |
This was from Nalgene Bottles For Storing Final Product ? thread on the Homedistiller message board:
| Quote: | | Glass good--plastic bad. We've had tons of problems with high proof distillates we recieve in plastic. Many of our clients are in Latin/South
America or Asia, and seem to want to save money by using plastic. It often gives a pesticide smell to high proof spirits. The only one I would
recommend is polycarbonate, and then only for diluted spirits (i.e. 40%). This is the crystal clear plastic that many of the distillers are now using.
Nalgene, sorry, but no! |
Hope this helps.
--hAzzBEEn--
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