obtaining petroleum ether

[gib65]

obtaining petroleum ether

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I'm sorry if this should go in the inorganic forum, but petroleum ether sounds like an organic compound to me.

Anyway, this may sound like an odd question, but can one get petroleum ether from a local commercial outlet, or is there a lot of restriction to obtaining it? I live in Canada, BTW.

[YT2095]

well there IS no such thing as pertoleum Ether exactly, the best you`ll get is something called Naptha.
petroleum ether is actualy a Range of Hydro carbons, and yes, this is the correct thread :)

see if you can get hold of REDEX Octane Booster, I`m fairly sure they`re international, and it`s perfectly legal to Buy :)
I use it all the time in the machine room as a fuel addative for certain engines :)

[woelen]

There is a compound, called petroleum ether and it is not naphta. I have purchased a liter of this and it is a mix of hexanes, pentanes and octanes, with a boiling trajectory of 40-60 C. These simply are alkanes and contain no double C=C bonds. It certainly does not contain olefins, like naphta does and it also does not contain aromatic compounds.

Another name for this compound is "ligroin". Sometimes, however, ligroin also is used as the name for a very similar mix of alkanes, but now from heptane to C10H22 with a boiling trajectory of 60 - 90 C.

Finally, there is a compound called washing benzine, also a mix of alkanes, with a boiling trajectory of 100 - 140 C.

All three liquids are very pure completely saturated liquids, which do not leave any residue on evaporation and contain no oily compounds. Ideal as non-polar solvent and ideal for cleaning and degreasing.

There also is something called white spirit. This mainly consists of naphta, but also contains methylated benzene derivatives and olefins. It is much more reactive than the alkane mixes, mentioned above, and also more risky from an environmental point of view.

[akcapr]

so petroleum ether doesnt actually contain any ethers?

[gib65]

Originally Posted by YT2095

see if you can get hold of REDEX Octane Booster

Is this a Naptha product?

[woelen]

Originally Posted by akcapr

so petroleum ether doesnt actually contain any ethers?

You're right, it only is called "ether" because of its low boiling point and volatility. It contains lower alkanes only (C5 .. C8).

[gib65]

So where would I be able to purchase some of these things? I called around to various places but most people have no idea what I'm talking about. Someone at Canadian Tire mentioned "Quick Start". Does anyone know about this?

[woelen]

Over here in the Netherlands petroleum ether (bp 40 .. 60) is sold in many drugstores in small 100 ml bottles. It is very easy to obtain. Probably it is similar at your place. Every supermarket sells the alkane mix of 100 .. 140 boiling point range. The 60 .. 95 stuff can be purchased at pharmacies, but that is a little more difficult. They do not easily sell to all kinds of people.

[KFC]

I'm not shore but this might be helpful:
http://www.hometrainingtools.com/cat.../p_un1271.html

[YT2095]

Originally Posted by gib65

Someone at Canadian Tire mentioned "Quick Start". Does anyone know about this?

if I`m not mistaken it`s similar to Cold Start, it IS ether, but it`s diethyl ether, (with a butane propelant).
this isn`t the same thing at all.
and redex octane booster is a product containing mainly naptha, it`s used as Lead replacement too.

I can`t be certain (Woelen might know for sure) but Lighter Petrol has to be fairly pure and very flamable, it`s mainly small chain alkanes and leaves no residue, might that serve your purpose?

[ecneics]

excuse me i have a question ( my english is not the best sorry about that ) : sometimes we need to wash some products with toluene and petroleum ether ( in an experiment we read that after filtration , the product need to be washed with toluene and petroleum ether ) , i want to know if there is a synthetic product who can play the role of petroleum ether

thanks a lot for your help

[raivo]

Any alkane (or mix of alkanes) with low boiling point should do the thing.

[ecneics]

Thanks a lot sir , can you give me an example and the synthesis of this alkane ?

[John Cuthber]

I think that the stuff sold as fuel for "zippo" type lighters is pretty much the same stuff as pet. ether.

[silkworm]

Originally Posted by John Cuthber

I think that the stuff sold as fuel for "zippo" type lighters is pretty much the same stuff as pet. ether.

Lighter fluid is butane isn't it?

[ecoli]

Originally Posted by silkworm

Lighter fluid is butane isn't it?

under pressure so its liquid, yes.

[John Cuthber]

Butane isn't the stuff I had in mind. There are lighters that run on petrol- highly refined petrol at that- called "lighter fluid".
There are also lighters that use butane. AFAIK zippo don't do butane lighters.

[raptor]

I heard that some lighters use pentane, is that right?

[woelen]

I don't know of any of them, and where I live, pentane also is not something you can buy OTC. Technically, it would be perfectly possible, but I see no reason why one would like to use an expansive chemical like pure pentane for such a thing, while a much cheaper chemical mix like 40 .. 60 ligroin also works.

[Phi for All]

Originally Posted by HenrryWilson

Thanks to modern technology, nuclear, solar and wind energy costs are coming down speedily while the cost of petroleum escalates rapidly.

That's a little off-topic, isn't it? And though this thread is two years old, I just paid $1.51/gallon for gas today, which is about a dollar less per gallon than I was paying when this thread was started.

What's your point, HenrryWilson?