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Author: Subject: Inexpensive Mercury For Sale
Loptr
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[*] posted on 7-8-2014 at 17:37


I just bought a pound of it. :)
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mrTrifaziux
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[*] posted on 19-8-2014 at 13:06


Too bad I live in Lithuania(you can't even get methanol here. Only from reagent suppliers), I would buy kilo of Hg. :(



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macckone
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[*] posted on 19-8-2014 at 19:55


Quote: Originally posted by mrTrifaziux  
Too bad I live in Lithuania(you can't even get methanol here. Only from reagent suppliers), I would buy kilo of Hg. :(

Distill from windshield washer fluid. The winter mixes are usually at least 40% methanol. Can't imagine the mix would differ across countries since
most of it is made in china or india.
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Loptr
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[*] posted on 19-8-2014 at 20:00


I received my mercury today. Very nice! Thank you!
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mrTrifaziux
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[*] posted on 21-8-2014 at 11:27


Quote: Originally posted by macckone  
Quote: Originally posted by mrTrifaziux  
Too bad I live in Lithuania(you can't even get methanol here. Only from reagent suppliers), I would buy kilo of Hg. :(

Distill from windshield washer fluid. The winter mixes are usually at least 40% methanol. Can't imagine the mix would differ across countries since
most of it is made in china or india.

Wow, never thought to distill windshield washer fluid. Thanks for the idea! :D Most brands here contain isopropanol. I've done some internet digging and found one brand that contains no isopropanol. finally!

[Edited on 21-8-2014 by mrTrifaziux]




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IrC
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[*] posted on 21-8-2014 at 19:36


Would it not be cheaper and more logical to make methanol from ever available trees instead of wiper fluid? After all there is a reason methanol was long called wood alcohol.

Or am I barking up the wrong tree?




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[*] posted on 21-8-2014 at 22:28


I'm pretty sure it would be cheaper indeed. In fact, I want to do that if I can get time.



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[*] posted on 22-8-2014 at 00:17


If he uses the proper type of wood he can collect the tars, mix with water and flavor his barbequed ribs. Just brush it on the meat both before and while cooking.




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mrTrifaziux
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[*] posted on 22-8-2014 at 15:04


Quote: Originally posted by IrC  
Would it not be cheaper and more logical to make methanol from ever available trees instead of wiper fluid? After all there is a reason methanol was long called wood alcohol.

Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

It might be a good idea to do destructive distillation of wood. I bought 4l of whipper fluid (30% MeOH) for 10lt(~4$) so I think that will be enough for some time. I think I will make moonshine still with a 40l boiler for destructive distillation of wood. Or I'll just order some from chem supplier.
Probably not the best place to talk about methanol lol.




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[*] posted on 22-8-2014 at 16:11


I don't know about using destructive distillation of wood. I was just reading about it a few days ago actually, and from what I could find, the procedure is apparently quite inefficient unless performed on an industrial scale, and a lot of further refinement is required afterwards to obtain a decently pure product. I guess if you use a 40L boiler you might be able to get a decent yield. It'll probably still be a lot of work to purify it though.



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mrTrifaziux
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[*] posted on 22-8-2014 at 16:50


Concoction of acetone, acetic acid and methanol will be a big pain to separate. maybe a very careful fractional distillation. (?)



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[*] posted on 22-8-2014 at 20:04


You guys would never have survived in 1800's. They did this commonly all the time. Distilling easy, mainly only the acetone cannot be separated by careful distillation. Small amounts of minor impurities besides acetone no problems unless ultra purity work is needed. If so buy it if you can by 2017. If he is running an alcohol lamp for chemistry or doing non critical experiments the purity should be fine for the most part. All in how carefully fractional distillation is done. Yet another plus is if wood stoves or fireplaces are common in the area no one will notice much unless he builds the mega factory zts requires, sounded like zts thinks he needs to cut down a forest and build a big factory. How many hundreds of gallons does he need anyway. This is a reasonably set up operation if he is only needing home experimenter amounts. And if he uses Hickory he can make a great BBQ baste. Done it many times decades ago no big deal.

Isn't this too much hijacking of the mercury thread to keep discussing this?





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[*] posted on 22-8-2014 at 20:35


Quote: Originally posted by IrC  
You guys would never have survived in 1800's. They did this commonly all the time. Distilling easy, mainly only the acetone cannot be separated by careful distillation. Small amounts of minor impurities besides acetone no problems unless ultra purity work is needed. If so buy it if you can by 2017. If he is running an alcohol lamp for chemistry or doing non critical experiments the purity should be fine for the most part. All in how carefully fractional distillation is done. Yet another plus is if wood stoves or fireplaces are common in the area no one will notice much unless he builds the mega factory zts requires, sounded like zts thinks he needs to cut down a forest and build a big factory. How many hundreds of gallons does he need anyway. This is a reasonably set up operation if he is only needing home experimenter amounts. And if he uses Hickory he can make a great BBQ baste. Done it many times decades ago no big deal.

Isn't this too much hijacking of the mercury thread to keep discussing this?

Well, I wasn't exactly suggesting full factory scale. I was just saying that to really be efficient it must be done larger than normal lab scale. In fact, I said that the 40L still he wants to use should be big enough to use. A 2L flask full of wood chips on the other hand, which would have been the scale I would have used when I was first considering the process, would be too small and inefficient to get a decent yield. I could be wrong, but based on the threads that I read the other day (right now I'm too tired to dig them up, but I will tomorrow), it sounded like the process needed to be done on a larger scale (bigger than lab, smaller than factory), so that's where I'm getting my information from.

And yes, this part of the thread should probably get moved, because it's a great discussion, but most definitely doesn't belong here.




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[*] posted on 22-8-2014 at 21:06


I can buy that. True it must be somewhat larger than a small bench top project. I just though it was funny the way it sounded. I kept getting visions of moonshiners and thunder road, old but interesting movie.




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[*] posted on 23-8-2014 at 03:28


I agree this discussion should get moved. Infact I need quite little amounts. That's why I said whipper fluid will do for now. I will use MeOH for few simple fischer esterification reactions (oil of wintergreen, methyl benzoate etc.)



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[*] posted on 19-3-2015 at 11:09


Hey everybody,

Thank you so much for your purchases. I hope I have satisfied everybody who wanted some.

Your enthusiasm and support has enabled me to expand my laboratory with a few hundred dollars worth of new equipment, and for that I will be forever grateful. Please enjoy the fruits of your contributions on YouTube - if there are certain demonstrations you would like to see, let me know and I will do my best to film them.

That said, I must announce that I am finally running out of the amount I wanted to sell. There are only 8 pounds left of over 70 orders fulfilled through SM, chemicalforums, and Amazon. If you would like some mercury, I am putting in one final plug to get the last of it out the door. Look out for more lab videos on YouTube, and, again - thank you!

Doug




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Loptr
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[*] posted on 19-3-2015 at 11:25


No, thank you, Praxichys!

1lb is way more than I will ever need!
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[*] posted on 27-3-2015 at 09:39


Just received my order - excellent packing and fast shipping!
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[*] posted on 27-3-2015 at 10:42


I'd really like 100mL (3 lb) or so of mercury
but UK postal regulations make it too difficult/expensive.


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