Organikum
resurrected
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Avoiding the ether stink....
For a certain extraction I use ether for it is available to me and the best solvent for the purpose.
The problem is the stink. Albeit I work with a as closed setup as possible to me I have the stink every time. A fumehood is no option, at least not a
fumehood connected to a chimney.
A fumehood connected to a kind of scrubber might be possible.
What to use to scrub ether fumes?
I was thinking about an explosion proof fan - flameback arrestor - and venting the fumes directly over a open flame to burn the ether out. But thats
quite an effort. Any easier ways to do this?
Any ideas and suggestions are welcome!
And yes, this is only about ether.
thx
/ORG
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not_important
International Hazard
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Activated charcoal filters? With your explosion-proof fan, draw the air through the filter bed.
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chemrox
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A good exhaust fan works wonders. Explosion proof motors not necessary.
"When you let the dumbasses vote you end up with populism followed by autocracy and getting back is a bitch." Plato (sort of)
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smuv
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Considering the wide explosive limits of ether, I would say an explosion proof fan would be a good idea.
Usually when I am working with ether, I just attach a vacuum adapter to whatever setup I am using, and vent the fumes outside. This works pretty
well. So maybe you could consider popping a vac adapter on top of your soxhlet.
Just out of curiosity why are you so concerned by the fumes? Is it a flammability concern? Health concern? Or a concern about nosy neighbors?
Also, about neutralizing the smell, stronger lewis acids form etherate salts with ether. This is why concentrated HCl solutions are miscible with
ether; if you are really desperate you could probably pass the fumes through a wash bottle to neutralize the smell.
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garage chemist
chemical wizard
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Activated charcoal FTW.
You can even get your ether back from it by desorption.
And much larger air flows can go through a charcoal bed than through any kind of washing bottle.
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MagicJigPipe
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Unless you live several hundred yards away from your nearest neighbor (or even the nearest public road or place where people might be passing by)
venting ether fumes outside in the US (especially southern states) is a non-option if you value your privacy and/or (possibly) your freedom.
Because of it's strong smell the first thing most people will think is "METH!" when they smell it. Then it just takes one call to the Meth Hotline
and BAM! you're screwed if you don't stop experimenting. All it takes for the DEA to get a search warrant (I know this because it happened in my
neighborhood and I knew one of the local cops) is for them to detect "methamphetamine precursors" (aka basically any ketone, alkane, ether, alcohol or
aromatic solvent) in the air coming from your house.
I was almost in that same boat (even before my other incident) because I was venting some acetone vapors outside. The neighbors (3 houses down!)
called the meth hotline. For about 2 weeks I noticed a marked police car "posted" about 4 houses down just sitting there sometimes for ~6 hours at a
time. I stopped performing experiments at the time. Then a few weeks later the neighbor came to my house and said he knew I was making meth because
he could smell the fumes (remember I stopped experimenting) I told him it wasn't me but, of course, he didn't believe me. A few weeks later I noticed
a whole bunch of law enforcement (DEA, Local, Drug Task Force trucks etc...) vehicles at a house about 3 houses down. Apparently, he started smelling
the acetone from my place and when I stopped the other people actually started making meth or were doing it all along. The bottom line is I would
have been in serious trouble because at the time all of my equipment was set up and I had all sorts of chemicals (including I2 and red phosphorus).
They would have popped me for SOMETHING if they could have got a warrant.
The moral to the story is, never vent solvents outside unless you are WAY in the boonies.
P.S. Another reason I might have been under suspicion is because I told a neighbor whom I thought was a friend about my interests in home chemistry.
He could have called the hotline as well, further raising their suspicion of me. So, DO NOT tell anyone about your hobby unless you can trust them
with your life because that is what's at stake.
[Edited on 1-3-2008 by MagicJigPipe]
"There must be no barriers to freedom of inquiry ... There is no place for dogma in science. The scientist is free, and must be free to ask any
question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors. ... We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it and
that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. And we know that as long as men are free to ask what they must, free to say what they think,
free to think what they will, freedom can never be lost, and science can never regress." -J. Robert Oppenheimer
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evil_lurker
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Orgy is in the EU so many of the USA precautions do not apply.
Also, there is a big difference in evap-ing solvents and simple fume control... the latter produces waaaay more fumes.
Me, personally I just wait till the wind is blowing from the southwest and I'm good to go... no houses for a half mile.
Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in
beer.
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smuv
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I distill starting fluid all the time, and I vent outside. I distill starting fluid from a 1 gallon jerry can, I produce CA 750ml each batch. I
always vent the fumes outside, and never can smell the fumes outside even on my own property. I live on a 1 acre plot of land. I have probably
distilled gallons of ether without problem. You have said it yourself magic jig pipe...it could have been your neighbors who were ACTUALLY making
meth who got the police involved.
Its good to be cautious, I agree...but maybe unless you are evaporating LARGE quantities of a solvent outside I think you are being too cautious.
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Organikum
resurrected
Posts: 2339
Registered: 12-10-2002
Location: Europe
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Thanks everybody.
Activated charcoalfilters seem the way to go 
And no, I am not evaporating huge amounts of ether and the conderns are about neighbors and about the smell in the house as the darn ether seems to
creep everywhere when it is not sucked away the the smell lingers forever - at least it makes the impression.
/ORG
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