thunderfvck - 4-5-2004 at 00:18
Yes. The time has come: I need xylene.
Unfortunately, I live in Quebec and am unable to find Xylol (Toluol, or whatever they call it, is also non-existant, but that's another story).
So I found this one product called Goof-off. It contains 90-95% xylene, and the remaining is 2-(2-Methoxyethoxy)ethanol (MEE). Here's the link,
and some of you may find it quite useful. I myself have found a number of products on there...:
http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/ingredients.htm
If you don't trust what i had told you, then search for xylene and scroll down until you see goof-off...Or you could probably just type in
goof-off...Anyway!
MEE is quite soluble in water, according to chemfinder >= 10 g/100ml. So can I just wash the Goof-off with water to remove the MEE, leaving me with
usuable xylene basically clear of contaminants? Or should I distill it (their bp.'s are about 20-30 C difference), but it may require a
fractionating column which I don't have...
And that's about it!
If anyone knows a good source of toluene I'd appreciate it...Canadian mind you! I see a lot of paint removers which contain toluene, methylene
chloride and methanol...Provided there would be a great deal of toluene in one of these products, would it be possible to distill off the toluene?
I'd have to discard the lower boiling garbages, and keep the higher boiling toluene, and then purify that by whichever means I see fit at the
time...Or you suggest! haha.
Okay! Well, yes, I'd just like to hear about your experiences with trying to remove solvents from mixed solvents, how did it go? etc. etc. I need
sleep.
Goodnight.
darkflame89 - 4-5-2004 at 02:37
Hey that's good news, i was able to find this Goo-off bottle. Thx
unionised - 8-5-2004 at 07:33
On a good day with a following wind you might be able to oxidise the alcohol to an acid and then wash it out with aqueous NaOH.
How cold does it get in your part of the world?
The freezing point of the alcohol is a fair bit lower than that of the xylenes (if the stuff happens to be mainly para xylene then it is easy to
freeze it and pour off the impurities).
Some advice from your western neighbor in Alberta.
The_Davster - 8-5-2004 at 08:59
Revy/Rona and Home depot both sell xylene and toluene in 1L and 4L sizes all the time. Once and a while there is also larger sizes too. They are in
the paint thinner section sold under the names xylene and toluene.
[Edited on 8-5-2004 by rogue chemist]
thunderfvck - 8-5-2004 at 12:49
I am unable to find xylene OR toluene at reno depo. I haven't gone to home depot (because the nearest one is in montreal, and that's quite
far), but I would imagine it being the same thing.
Summer has arrived so it doesn't get very cold. Although I do have a freezer I could use!...will check up on this later, I don't have much
time right now...
I take it that there is somethign wrong with my water washing method. Can I ask why? Note: there is most definitely more than just the EEM inside this
product.
Distillation. Should I bother? Is it risking sudden death by explosion? I imagine I'd obtain a fairly clean product that way, it would be a
hassle though.
Thanks!
unionised - 9-5-2004 at 02:29
Washing with water should work; you may need to wash a few times. If you measure the volume before and after it will give you a good idea of how much
you have removed. Of course, the advantage of distillation is that you can leave a lot of other rubbish behind. As you say, there is more than just
one impurity; the others might not disolve in water.
thunderfvck - 9-5-2004 at 12:44
Yes, so I guess distillation is the only really safe way to go to ensure a pure product.
Are there any risks involved with this? I mean xylene must be flamable. Provided I have my joints nicely sealed, no leaks, under a vaccuum, should I
be fine?
Prince_Lucifer - 14-5-2004 at 21:19
Distillation of solvents can never be consdidered as a safe practice, nor is it free from risks. xylene is no exception!
Xylene is extremely flammable!
The fumes may seem sweet and friendly, but beware, they will turn on you given the chance.
Get the MSDS for xylene, make sure you lubricate your glass joints well and act in a safe manner. Eliminate ALL ignition sources and you should be
safe. Good luck!
vulture - 15-5-2004 at 04:01
Another point of caution when vacuum distilling flammable solvents: make sure your apparatus has completely cooled down before raising the pressure!
The solvent vapours can suddenly become into the explosive range when you vent the setup!
Organikum - 15-5-2004 at 12:59
Toluene and xylene are rather harmless. Ether is much more dangerous as acetone is.
Close your containers with inflammable stuff and have a piece of wettend cloth around. Dont panic.
Thats not so dangerous at all.
Containers always immediately closed and no panic are the key.
A nice 1m flame out of the sideneck of a big flask is nice to look at and stops immediately when stoppered. And its no problem at all to put the
stopper on barehanded.
Quick of course.
Gasoline is the most dangerous mixture around. Gasoline and motoroil is hell on earth.
And now we leave the US high-security prison of insurance-risks and return to realworld and chemistry.
thunderfvck - 15-5-2004 at 14:46
Thanks for that tip vulture. I wouldn't have thought about that whilst doing it.
And Organikum, I assume you speak from practise when you say how toluene and xylene aren't very dangerous (in comparisson to the deadly double
you mentioned). I appreciate your advice, be comfortable! I would have been fairly scared during the whole procedure (and I only have 500 ml flasks!
So I'll be stopping the process a lot, etc, maybe I should get some biggins...)...Anyways, is that basically the worst I can expect, a huge
flame? Sounds pretty cool, and scary! Couldn't this flame ignite the rest of the xylene, making a chain reaction and destroying all of my
precious glassware (along with my not-so-important face 
)?
And I use vaseline to lube my joints, satisfactory?
vulture - 16-5-2004 at 08:04
Vaseline and hot aromatic solvents are not very good pals, unless you desire a cloudy product.
Organikum - 16-5-2004 at 08:19
Agreed.
I prefer a strip of thin teflon tape wrapped non-overlapping on the male joint.
Mendeleev - 23-5-2004 at 16:36
http://www.kleanstrip.com/solvents.htm All of these are available at any local hardware store, Lowes, Home Depot, and ACE hardware. Some like
acetone and denatured ethanol are available at Wal-Mart. Do not trust what hardware store/walmart associates tell you. I have asked for toluol and
acid/organic vapor respirators at Lowes, and when the dumbass clerk told me they don't have that I thought they didn't. Until I found it
myself. The same happened at Wal-Mart when I asked for Campa-Chem toillet deoderant. Also, 99% methanol and 99% isopropanol are available at any
auto-shop and walmart as heet and iso-heet gas line antifreeze, for $.74 per 355 mL containers.
[Edited on 24-5-2004 by Mendeleev]
[Edited on 24-5-2004 by Mendeleev]
thunderfvck - 23-5-2004 at 20:03
I've looked for the solvents myself. I've spent HOURS looking for them. They should all be in the paint thinning section, no? I have never
seen naptha (well, I HAVE seen camping fuel, but it wasn't labeled as naptha), xylene, toluene or methyl ethyl ketone. Everywhere I go, they
don't have it. I never ask the people, I like to hunt. I'm a hunter by nature.
Perhaps I should check out the home depot. That's downtown though, and I'm afraid driving in that area. Too much stress and weird rules
I'm not accustomed to. The streets are too strange for my liking. But that's probably my only option. I've been to virtually every
hardware store in my area, I don't know of any others...Hmm. Time to look in the yellow pages and start cracking down to business.
herculiner
Betty Ford - 24-5-2004 at 15:19
this may be off topic however if there are uk bees here then procuring xylene is rather simple.
i found by looking in the midlands area that xylene can be bought from a small chemical supplier. they seemed to be abliged to ask you what its for
which is why you would explain that you would use it for cleaning a stone floor before you apply a well known masonary coating to the floor.
Hope this is of use to someone
bett