downwardsfromzero wrote:
You really only have access to Zippo lighter fluid? Is there not an automotive supply store in your area?
Zippo fluid is the cleanest solvent I can get here (besides alcohol of course). Pure Naptha is restricted and can only be bought by businesses directly from the manufacturers in industrial quantities with a lot of paperwork (same for xylene, heptane, hexane, etc)...
There are some technical grade solvents sold as "white spirits" and "paint thinners" in hardware stores, but they are either sold in plastic bottles with a color that is way too yellowish to look safe, or in cans with a lot of ingredients that aren't limited to "light petroleum distillate". I would still have to distill that stuff if I want to use it for our purposes.
downwardsfromzero wrote:
I suspect you wouldn't be asking this question if you already had sufficient equipment and experience in order to distill naphtha. While it's relatively straightforward to overcome those hindrances, it could be that the easier route is simply to keep on searching for a suitable solvent.
Yup... I have some experience with chemistry (including organic) from a couple of courses at the university (chemistry-related profession), but that was a long time ago, and the last thing I did related to it was to produce my batches of Marquis and Mecke reagents to test the stuff I buy.
If the equipment isn't expensive (and the instructions and safety of the process can be followed by anyone with straight hands and a head on the shoulders) I would gladly give it a try. Since I would be doing it with low volumes (100ml per try probably, to reduce potential damage in case something goes wrong).
I see it as a less riskier endeavor than getting the wrong kind of attention while trying to bribe people to sell me half a liter of laboratory grade stuff lol.
I checked them a couple of days ago, but from the pictures the product looks too jungley for my test. If it would be possible to achieve the same result of product as with organic solvents, I would gladly go that way, specially because the waste would be a lot safer to get rid off without treatment and wouldn't damage nor the environment nor whatever biological waste treatment systems my city has lol.
Dirty T wrote:Amazon, Ace, Lowe's, Home Depot all sell VM&P Naphtha.
I've seen people having shitty evap tests with the Klean-Strip. The only thing I would buy online would be something ACS grade.