Alcohol Content for Brands of Denatured Alcohol

[Mel Fulks]

I like the Bekhol,too. It's never gotten much traction here but it's dependable.

[Ted Phillips]

Here's a link to the Ethyl Alcohol stove fuel I use from Amazon. Really good stuff and completely non-toxic. I've used it to dissolve some older shellac that wouldn't dissolve in Borg DNA. With prime, you can get 6 liters for $40 shipped.

The wife and I also have a Moda Flame indoor fireplace that burns this fuel. It works beautifully - much less smelly and messy than kerosene lamps.

[William Fretwell]

Ethanol will absorb water from the atmosphere until it contains 5% water. Essentially it gets expensive to remove the last 5% water. Little black microfilter pellets grab the water by adsorbtion. You should be able to heat them and drive off the water to re-use them. They are only really viable for the last 1-2% of water. In Canada I can buy 94% ethanol from the liquor store with a 'permit'. It costs more than good vodka however. I think Cdn $100 for 1.14 Litres.

[Patrick Chase]

Ethanol will absorb water from the atmosphere until it contains 5% water. Essentially it gets expensive to remove the last 5% water.

The same goes for isopropanol (rubbing alcohol), though 99%+ isopropyl is more widely available than similar ethanol concentrations. That water won't stay out though unless you have a very well-controlled environment for storage, though.

[David Dalzell]

The Kleenstrip "Safety Data Sheet" claims Ethyl alcohol {Ethanol} 80.0 -90.0 % , Methyl alcohol < 5.0 % , Acetic acid, ethyl ester 1.5 %

[James Waldron]

The Kleenstrip "Safety Data Sheet" claims Ethyl alcohol {Ethanol} 80.0 -90.0 % , Methyl alcohol < 5.0 % , Acetic acid, ethyl ester 1.5 %

Well, it's good to know what somewhere between 86.5 to 96.5 percent of the juice is made of. Does anyone wonder what the balance is? Maybe we are supposed to assume it's all water? Or did something get missed here? If it's not reported on the MSDS it must be benign, right? Right?

[John K Jordan]

The Kleenstrip "Safety Data Sheet" claims Ethyl alcohol {Ethanol} 80.0 -90.0 % , Methyl alcohol < 5.0 % , Acetic acid, ethyl ester 1.5 %

The Kleen Strip MSDS I found indicates something different for denatured alcohol:

Ethyl alcohol 30.0 -50.0 %
Methanol 40.0 -60.0 %

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...VrUipLHg0w2YAQ

Methanol is nasty stuff.

JKJ

[John Schtrumpf]

There are 2 products:

Klean-Strip® Green™ Denatured Alcohol: contains 85-90% ethanol, and less than 5% methanol

Klean-Strip® Denatured Alcohol: has between 40 – 50% ethanol and 50 – 55% methanol.

[Ted Phillips]

...and methanol is toxic. It absorbs through the skin, and 2 oz is a lethal dose for an adult. Two tbsp of methanol can kill a child. Nasty nasty stuff. That's why I recommend staying away from "methylated spirits" and use non-toxic denatured ethanol.