Alcohol

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Denatured Alcohol

General Description

Can be mixed with soap and water. Is harmless to rubber. Use as a solvent for thinning, removing and cleaning epoxy, brushes, and equipment.

Velocity Use

Alcohol Dispenser

An essential cleaning agent for glass work, as it cleans sanding dust, etc., and evaporates quickly to allow epoxy bonding, but is harmless to the underlying structure/epoxy (unlike Acetone). Can also be used for wiping down and cleaning up if epoxy or structural is accidentally applied in undesired places.

Product Description

Denatured alcohol is ethanol which has been rendered toxic or otherwise undrinkable, and in some cases dyed. It is used for purposes such as fuel for spirit burners and camping stoves, and as a solvent. Traditionally, the main additive was 10% methanol, which gave rise to methylated spirits. There are diverse industrial uses for ethanol, and therefore literally hundreds of recipes for denaturing ethanol. Typical additives are methanol, isopropanol, Acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone, denatonium, and even (uncommonly) aviation gasoline.

In the phrase denatured alcohol, denatured means "a specific property of ethanol, its usefulness as a beverage, is removed". The ethanol molecule is not denatured in the sense that its chemical structure is altered.

There is no duty on denatured alcohol in most countries, making it considerably cheaper than pure ethanol. Consequently, its composition is tightly defined by government regulations which vary between countries. Different additives are used to make it both unpalatable and poisonous in such a way that is hard to rectify through distillation or other simple processes. Methanol is commonly used for this in part because it has a boiling point close to that of ethanol, and separating it by distillation is difficult, but not impossible as methanol and ethanol form a zeotropic mixture (the opposite of an azeotropic mixture). In many countries, it is also required to be dyed blue or purple with an aniline dye.

The tax-exempt status for denatured alcohol dates from the mid-19th century. For instance the United Kingdom introduced legislation in 1855 to permit ethanol containing 10% wood-naphtha to be exempt.

Packaging Weights

Typically sold in 1 gallon metal jugs.

Directions for Use

Thoroughly wet a rag with denatured alcohol (preferably with a pump dispenser), wipe down area to be bonded or cleaned up, and allow to dry.

External links