Chemical Forums
Specialty Chemistry Forums => Citizen Chemist => Topic started by: vmelkon on July 22, 2011, 11:01:29 AM
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I have a can of some product that is used by people who paint cars.
The can contains a liquid, probably used as a thinner for paint.
The can says it contains toluene and methyl ethyl ketone.
Since toluene bp = 110.6 °C
methyl ethyl ketone bp = 79.64 °C
can I separate them by distillation? Is it safe to do so (it won't explodo-boil like water does)?
There is the issue of azeotrope formation but I suppose noone here would know about Toluene + methyl ethyl ketone.
There are also other chemicals in there but I assume they are in low quantity since they are listed after Toluene and methyl ethyl ketone.
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They do not form an azeotrope. Yes you could separate them with fractional distillation. But the gasses are both highly flammable so be careful.
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I bought some lacquer thinner instead of using that thing for cars because that is cleacoat and probably has some polymer or something in it that hardens.
I bought a can of Recochem lacquer thinner. Accoring to their page, it contains 20% methyl ethyl ketone, 60-80% toluene, some methanol and 1% acetone.
I distilled it. To my surprise, it boils off gently with smaller bubbles compared to water. I'm sure it contains lots of methanol and some minor amount of acetone.