I was just wondering how concenctrated does sulfuric acid needs to be for being able to dehydrate ethanol.
Unfortunantely my sulfuric acid is lower than 90% I would say 82-87%.
I also would like to make chromyl chloride if it is possible using only 82-87% because NileRed on youtube said it H2SO4 should be over 90%.
however i was actually able to make CrO2Cl2 by mixing CrO3 with 20% HCl,after heating brown fumes came off.
So I probably wont need any sulfuric acid for the chromyl chloride synthesis anyway.
But i still would make diethyl ether myself because none of fire starter fluids i could find contains ether
[Edited on 02-09-2017 by nagyepf]
[Edited on 02-09-2017 by nagyepf]Melgar - 2-9-2017 at 02:27
Virtually all starting fluid contains diethyl ether, although it might be called "ethyl ether" or just "ether" on the label. Cans contain between 25%
and 35% ether, with the more expensive ones typically having the most.
As far as concentrating sulfuric acid, there is an azeotrope with water at 98% H2SO4, and concentrating it up to about 95% by boiling the water off
should be easy enough. Just heat it (carefully!) until the fumes coming off of it are white and clearly contain something other than water vapor.
Heating ethanol in sulfuric acid can give either diethyl ether or ethylene depending on the temperature. At lower temperatures, the ethanol molecules
don't dehydrate until there are two of them together, that can eliminate one water between them. At higher temperatures, though, individual ethanol
molecules will split into water and ethylene. I can't remember what the temperature threshold is, but it should be easy to find online.nagyepf - 2-9-2017 at 02:50
according to the label my lighter fuel contains only petroleum and heptane unionised - 2-9-2017 at 03:51
I wonder if the difference in availability of ether is due to living in different jurisdictions.
Would you each be so kind as to let us know what countries you live in?
wg48 - 2-9-2017 at 11:29
Lighter fuel for pocket lighters is not the same thing as starter fluid for starting pertrol engines.
I strongly doubt any lighter fuel contains significant amounts of ether.
From recent direct experience ether containg starter fluid is available in Florida, France and the UK or was a few years ago.
ninhydric1 - 2-9-2017 at 11:41
I can get starter fluid containing 300 mL of almost 100% diethyl ether here on the West Coast for about 6 dollars at Walmart. I don't know about other
parts of the US and the UK though.Melgar - 2-9-2017 at 14:11
according to the label my lighter fuel contains only petroleum and heptane
Ugh. Trying to decipher your first post, I didn't really understand what it meant, because your grammar kind of sucks. Now I see that you said "fire
starter fluid", which is not what anybody calls "lighter fluid" except maybe you. "Starting fluid" comes in an aerosol can, is sold in the
"automotive" section, and is meant to be sprayed on an engine's carburetor to get it to start when it's having difficulty. The reason it works has
everything to do with the fact that diethyl ether catches fire much more easily than the hydrocarbons in gasoline, leading me to wonder if telling you
how to obtain it is a good idea.
I can get starter fluid containing 300 mL of almost 100% diethyl ether here on the West Coast for about 6 dollars at Walmart. I don't know about other
parts of the US and the UK though.
Is it for starting diesel engines, by any chance? I think I may have seen some starting fluid for diesel engines that was almost all ether, but it
was really expensive.
[Edited on 9/2/17 by Melgar]Vosoryx - 2-9-2017 at 15:55
I can also add that in (western) Canada one could randomly pick starting fluid off the shelf and bet on it having ether. I haven't found one that
doesn't, but it might be different by country. ninhydric1 - 2-9-2017 at 21:33
@Melgar IIRC it was for both gasoline and diesel engines, but it seems to not exist on the Walmart website after looking for it. If I have time this
weekend maybe I'll go to the store and see if I can pick up a bottle; it could just be an in-store thing. I could've also remembered it wrong, so I'll
check MSDS when I do buy one. Pure diethyl ether is a rare thing these days .
.