By far the greatest hazard is that it's really flammable.
But so are many substances that you probably have in your home. It's not some dangerous poison, it's one of the less dangerous solvents out there, which is why people tend to drink alcoholic beverages. It's perfectly fine to use for disinfecting wounds and is good at cleaning grease stains.
Clarification: good for disinfecting skin or tools. Don't put alcohol (or hydrogen peroxide) on a wound, they just irritate it further. Ideally wounds should be rinsed with sterile saline (but plain water is fine too).
Also like other commenters say, diluting it a little is good for this use.
For real! It took over 100$ worth of gauze to wrap me lol. I rode for another 2 hrs because I was having a blast and didn't want to waste my ticket $$$. The adrenaline was real
>”It's perfectly fine to use for disinfecting wounds and is good at cleaning grease stains.”
100% ethanol has some cyclohexane and/or benzene in it, don’t put that on a wound
1. Obviously, 100% Ethanol wouln't contain any benzene, or else it wouldn't be 100%.
2. In the method you're alluding to, the ternary azeotrope with benzene and water is boiled off at a lower boiling point, while removing Ethanol at very close to 100%. Only trace amounts of either benzene or water would be left.
3. You absolutely don't need benzene or cyclohexane to achieve highly concentrated ethanol. Magnesium sulfate or molecular sieve are just as viable.
Yes thats all in theory but there are many cases of technical grade 100% ethanol having contamination from poor QC during manufacturing. It was a big enough issue during covid that the FDA issued a list of hand sanitizers that used unapproved alcohol sources in their formulation and had levels of contaminants well above the legal limits that could be absorbed dermally (including benzene).
My PI used to say the same thing, I call BS. 200 proof ethanol should be just that, and have very few impurities, if any (aside from some absorbed water due to EtOH being hygroscopic). When in doubt, check the COA and SDS. Hell, run it on a GCMS.
Edit: it won’t have benzene, possibly trace cyclohexane. Trace levels won’t cause harm.
Edit 2: I may or may not have put a drop of absolute ethanol in my tongue once. For fun.
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*To buy? might still work*
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Probably better to dilute it down if you wanna flush it. But in that case you might as well keep it as 70% for general cleaning and disinfection of hard, non-porous surfaces. Beware it is flammable (even at 70%). You'll get about <140ml of 70% ethanol which can be sprayed about and evaporates very fast. Could just do a good cleaning session for your windows and counter tops. Just remember to wear gloves.
Not exactly no, window cleaners are usually based on ammonia in Europe at least, it smells of it too. Some glass cleaners and screen wipes though, you are correct. Disinfectant wipes too.
No, by glass cleaner i mean cleaner for glasses, which needs to not react with the various coatings or your skin. Window cleaner is a bit harsher, and tend to ask you to wear gloves.
I hope they weren't going to drink it. 100% EtOH can have traces of benzene in it. Our chem professor warned us of this. He knew some were going to try and drink the lab stock stuff. Since EtOH can only be simply distilled to 95%. you need trick to get the last 5% out. Such as adding a small amount of benzene. It forms an azeotrope with the water, allowing it to distill off. There are other ways, but that was common.
it's just a 100ml. Won't be an issue.
But do consider using it. Dilute it to 70% and you get hand sanitizer.
It can also be a pretty effective fire starter. But of course be careful as the flames are invisible under bright or even moderate light, and if there's some on your hands... well 🫠.
It is also great for removing permanent marker and similar inks.
If you use it to start a fire, never pour accelerant on something that is already burning or is still hot enough to ignite the accelerant. If you're at all unsure, don't.
It's a great way to learn about burn injuries. If you panic and throw the now burning bottle, you can teach others too.
I know you probably know this but for the folks reading along at home, just don't do it. LiveLeak doesn't exist anymore so you won't even get 15 minutes of fame. Maybe 15 minutes of intense regret, but not fame.
You could put a soap bottle dispenser on it and use as hand disinfectant
If you mix it with equal part water it's just vodka. Not that I'd recommend drinking lab chemicals, but that's how not-strong the stuff is.
Iirc it's because it requires a certain amount of time (not long) in contact with germs to reliably kill enough of them to disinfect but 100% alcohol dries so rapidly it isn't there long enough.
Ie, if you dropped something in the bottle I'd probably disinfect it but just wiping some across a surface won't work. I may be wrong as to the mechanism though.
70% is usually the preferred concentration for a disinfectant.
Yeah it might dry your hands a little, so it'd probably be better suited as a surface disinfectant. As long as you're careful with fire or extreme heat around it.
Additionally, wikipedia says that 70% ethanol is better than 100% at killing bacteria, so you'd be best off diluting it a little either way
During the pandemic, the World Health Organization released guides on how to make your own hand sanitizer and its final concentrations were something like 75% ethanol/isoproply alcohol, 1.5% glycerol and the rest clean water (and optional to add H2O2) https://www.whofreebasics.org/documents/31/Guide_to_Local_Production.pdf
I- hydrogen peroxide? why say H2O2, it alienates it for some people, which may even be OP as they don't seem very scientifically versed (they are mildly scared of ethyl alcohol)
People are wild. You can absolutely flush it and don’t think anymore about this. It’s a 100ml going into much more water… would it be safe to fill the toilet with vodka?
Yeah it's instantly going to be diluted quite a bit. There really should be no worries here at all. If you are, just dilute it first. People talking about taking it to a hazardous waste facility lol.
If you dilute it it won’t be much different from alcoholic beverages. Those go up to 80% ethanol if I’m not mistaken and are usually safe to go into the drain.
If you want to be safe just dilute it as much as you want and you’re good to go.
I’d keep it for cleaning, though.
yes this. any potential toxicity is coming from breaking the azeotrope (I know toluene is used but I'm sure there's other possibilities)
It's fine for cleaning but don't consume it
Im pretty sure for something like 100% lab grade ethanol and not just denatured alcohol, they dont use anything to manage the azeotrope. Its just prepared to 100% with molecular sieves and bottled as a product with limited shelf-life.
Well I'm not really sure of the physical chemistry behind it, but adding a third substance can create a three-way azeotrope with a lower boiling point, so you can distill that off and end up with a higher concentration of what you're looking to purify.
oh so substance A and B can create an azeotrope that will aid in lower boiling point such that substance C (ethanol) could be further purified through distillation? that way you're not capped at the 95% or whatever?
did i understand that correctly??
I’d say no (that shit could eat up your plumbing). Do what everyone else says and thin it out. Alcohol OR vinegar will clean most anything. Guessing since this the one response you responded to its already flushed.
I dont know what that means. Dumping 100 mL alcohol in a toilet is less harmful than dumping all the partly consumed drinks and punch after a New Years party. Any sewer pipe that's too fragile for that needs to be replaced.
I’m not trolling you, but when I hear stuff like that I think of rednecks dumping their engine oil into the ditch. I think of nurses dumping heparin into the drain. Our WWMS is meant manage our physical waste, not chemical
Read how sewage treatment works. The question was about 100 mL alcohol, which is beloved by the bacteria that labor for us in primary and secondary sewage trestment. This is not the same as engine oil or nuclear fuel rods.
Why are people suggesting to dilute it before throwing it into a toilet filled with water 🤔
That hazard label is mainly there to reduce liability
Unless it specifically says denatured, that should be pure 200 proof ethanol.
To label something lab-grade and add a hidden ingredient that can ruin someone’s chromatography or poison their cell culture is not something any company that wishes to stay in business would do
Dump it in your fuel tank. Won't hurt it at all. Former auto tech. And aerospace tech. I'm a nerd. 100ml of elthonal in a even a quarter tanks of fuel won't be noticed at all by your car.
Will also make a great cleaner. Not as good as Isopropyl but good enough.
I'm not much of a drinker but you could probably mix it with some water and fruit. Might make an ok mash of some kind. Personally If you just want to get rid of it. I'd dunp it in the fuel tank.
Well, you could dilute it with Cranberry, Orange, or Grapefruit Juice and drink it.
Just beware of the side effects!! HeHe!
*No, do that. It could be denatured.
lab ethanol often has some stabilizers in it. kerosine is a common one. id suggest strongly against consumption of materials not made for human consumption.
I had an extra bottle of 100% lab grade ethanol once. It had "expired" after 1 year, so I took it home rather than throw it out. Stashed it in a friend's freezer and partook every now and then during game nights - ah, memories.
Oh, we never took shots of the stuff straight. We'd mainly mix it with soda/juice.
However, 100% ethanol does have a very unique, strange taste if you lightly sip it. It's almost like your taste buds don't even know how to process it - to me, it always tasted like an extremely sour green apple Jolly Rancher.
I would just add about a third more water and use it for cleaning. I've also put it in a spray bottle to shoot down houseflies in our house. It's way better than a fly swatter
I was going to say I've thrown a lot more than 100ml into the toilet along with the rest of my stomach contents. Although it had been diluted a bit before I bought it. I used to drink 375ml of 80 proof vodka in one long chug because I was cheap and the buzz would be strong enough that I could sleep with that small quantity of booze. If I was throwing it up there was a lot more than that in there.
Haven't touched the stuff in a decade and never will again.
I wouldn't do this with 100% ethanol because you'd destroy your tissue lining, but you can do this with low concentration ethanol solutions and get rid of them by flushing them up your butt
Do not drink it. Some jurisdictions add poisons to ethanol to make them undrinkable to prevent abuse. Might not apply to your grade but it might too.
Bascially though, fill up your sink with water, pour it in, drain the sink. The toilet would also be fine..
What you mean is generally adding something like pyridine, which smells really bad, vomit inducing, but doesn’t kill you. Adding a non-obvious poison would defeat the whole purpose… Also, it is lab grade, so any additive would interfere with the use.
You can keep it like this and use to clean stickers and stuff, you can dilute it to ~70% and use it for disinfecting or you could dispose of it, if you really want to trow it away I’d say throw it in a bucket of water to dilute it and then flush that down the toilet
What did you mean to buy?
If you wanted alcohol for cleaning, you could just roughly dilute it to around 75% using water (preferably distilled or deionized water if using for medical purposes). I don't see why you need to waste it, especially as I imagine that 100% ethanol was quite a bit more than the usual 70 or 75% stuff.
Flushing low MW alcohols is generally not recommended because they are flammable and can kill the little guys used in water treatment.
Though I suppose 100mL might be fine. Just dilute it with lots of water. Better yet, you can make rubbing alcohol.
Not really. It will be so dilute by the time it gets to the treatment plant.
I was told a story many many years ago by someone who used to work at ICI - they had a visit from the water authority and they directly told them officially you aren't supposed to dump alcohol in the drains, but unofficially dump as much as you like as the bacteria at the treatment plant love it, and thrive on it. And we are talking tonnes, not mls.
Flushing IS diluting it. It is safe to do so, it's not like you're dumping several railcars worth of the stuff.
But I'd keep it for cleaning and/or disinfecting things.
Can kill the little guys in the water treatment if a significant amount is thrown in it directly in WWTP.
otherwise methanol and ethanol are used as readily bioavailable substrate in some reactions (denitrification for instance)
I suppose dumping several hundred cubic meters of ethanol might be a problem for the waste water treatment, but even then I’d be more worried about the explosion risk in the sewers.
Question… why do people use the abbreviation MW for molecular weight, when the SI definition is M? In addition, Mw is defined as the weight averaged molecular weight used for polymers.
M=n/m (M is molar mass, n is moles, m is mass)
It’s true that molarity has the same M as sign, regardless Mw is not the way to go.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molar_mass?wprov=sfti1
Nah, pretty normal in Europe too.
>However, we chemists should know better.
You are thinking there is a problem here, it really isn't. What problem do you see here other than "it's not SI"? And do you really think "It depends on the M." is a better statement than "It depends on the MW"?
I'd dilute it to 70% with some water and keep it around for cleaning. It would be fine to dump otherwise, especially in that amount. Do NOT drink it, though. Lab-grade ethanol is "denatured" with trace amounts of methanol and propanol in order to discourage consumption and to avoid the liquor tax.
Dont throw it away. Keep it around, you never know. What kind of alcohol did you need? It’ll probably still work, whatever you’re using it for.
Also, is there no appropriate waste container in your lab (if you’re in a lab)? If you’re not in a lab, how were you able to obtain 100% anhydrous ethanol? Is that a common thing?
When you have a drink with vodka you are drinking watered down ethanol . Just sayin . Look up anything on distillery. I certainly am not suggesting you do this .
Holy heck I would keep it. But it's gotta stay airtight becuase it'll begin absorbing water as soon as you open it. It'll work really well as a solvent for things that less concentrated ethanol won't touch as much, and it's awesome for cleaning up certain deposits of Mystery Gunk^tm
If you must dispose of it pour it on a concrete floor outdoors. And leave it to evaporate. Or just leave the lid off the bottle.
But you could use it for cleaning and degreasing.
Not allowed to put it in the lab sink as it is "chemicals" - rof(of office not lab)lol Ethyl alcohol dissolves in water so realistically flushing 100 ml is the best wad to dispose of it. NOTE that lab alcohol is often made by azeotropic distillation with BENZENE - exposure to the alcohol is bad enough but avoid contact with it and do not drink the stuff.
Pour down lab sink with copious water. It's probably denatured, but should not be a problem. I would avoid flushing anything down the toilet!
That said, what does your lab manual say to do?
Dilute it to 70 percent and use it as a disinfectant. Or keep it at high purity and use it as a solvent for cleaning things that don't clean easily with water.
Or pour it out on the sidewalk on a hot day. Leave the container open, outside in the hot sun so the last few drops can evaporate. There will be a window of danger lasting less than 30 seconds when it will be a flammability hazard. So make sure during that window, nobody somehow accidentally ignites it. If you think about all the alcohol served in bars that gets spilled and evaporates, your measly 100 ml is nothing but a grain of sand on the beach. So to speak.
Dilute dilute dilute, you want it under 5% when it hits the sewer.
But I agree with the others, why dump it? Is it the wrong alcohol or wrong concentration, because you recall that thing about diluting? Likewise if you have storage in your flammables cabinet you never know when you you might need some concentration of ethanol. And doesn't 100% (200 proof) ethanol requires special permission to buy, or have they gone lax on that these days? Used to be a restricted sale so not sure how something like that gets purchased by mistake. I must be getting old...
Late to the party, but I wouldn't drink it if it says 100%. Ethanol by itself cannot be concentrated beyond 96%, so if it's really 100%, it's probably been added a bit of benzene, which is highly carcinogenic.
Surprised noone's mentioned this yet.
Erm, water and 96% ethanol form an azeotrope, and you *can not* purify ethanol further by destillation alone. You have to dehydrate it by other means, and higher concentrations *will* pull water out of the atmosphere all by itself, until it's reduced to 96% again.
Look it up.
Erm, water and 96% ethanol form an azeotrope, and you *can not* purify ethanol further by destillation alone. You have to dehydrate it by other means, and higher concentrations *will* pull water out of the atmosphere all by itself, until it's reduced to 96% again.
Look it up.
>Ethanol by itself cannot be concentrated beyond 96%
Is what you said. It cannot be purified past 96% by distillation alone, no, but 100% ethanol is... 100% ethanol. You do have to be careful with absolute ethanol storage for the reason you mention.
>so if it's really 100%, it's probably been added a bit of benzene
There are lots of uses of 100% ethanol in biomedical research that requires no benzene to be present, so again.... not true.
Oh I thought he bought more than that! And you'd be surprised how sensitive those systems can be. I worked in wastewater during my undergrad and we could always tell what lab they were doing at the local highschool by the bug die off rate. It doesn't take a whole lot to disrupt those systems. 100 mL definitely won't do it though.
No, just like the pill heads. That goes to the municipality to be treated for reuse. Imagine that the worker where you live is a 20 something on their phone at work and allowing that back into the area water supply. Sure, it will dilute before it gets that far but imagine a whole town doing that type of practice.
You don't think anyone pours beer or wine down the drain?
You'd have to pour an immense (industrial) amount of ethanol down a drain to have a noticeable concentration impact at the size of most municipal wastewater treatment facilities, especially if you're worried about killing off beneficial bacteria.
Many beneficial bacteria are fine in dilute ethanol, and you really need to be hitting >4-6% before you start killing off the ones that aren't.
By far the greatest hazard is that it's really flammable. But so are many substances that you probably have in your home. It's not some dangerous poison, it's one of the less dangerous solvents out there, which is why people tend to drink alcoholic beverages. It's perfectly fine to use for disinfecting wounds and is good at cleaning grease stains.
Clarification: good for disinfecting skin or tools. Don't put alcohol (or hydrogen peroxide) on a wound, they just irritate it further. Ideally wounds should be rinsed with sterile saline (but plain water is fine too). Also like other commenters say, diluting it a little is good for this use.
I crashed my bike at a resort, and the resort sold me a bottle of peroxide so I could wash the gravel out, lol. Should have seen the foam it made
I can practically smell it.
For real! It took over 100$ worth of gauze to wrap me lol. I rode for another 2 hrs because I was having a blast and didn't want to waste my ticket $$$. The adrenaline was real
I cringed thinking about it. That hurts.
100% ethanol evaporates too quickly to properly disinfect.
This is true. 70% is the gold standard in microbiology labs.
Pour that on a wound and you will teach people around you new dances and vocabulary!
>”It's perfectly fine to use for disinfecting wounds and is good at cleaning grease stains.” 100% ethanol has some cyclohexane and/or benzene in it, don’t put that on a wound
What? Who told you that?
Ethanol forms an azeotrope with water around 95%, you need additives to get to 100%.
1. Obviously, 100% Ethanol wouln't contain any benzene, or else it wouldn't be 100%. 2. In the method you're alluding to, the ternary azeotrope with benzene and water is boiled off at a lower boiling point, while removing Ethanol at very close to 100%. Only trace amounts of either benzene or water would be left. 3. You absolutely don't need benzene or cyclohexane to achieve highly concentrated ethanol. Magnesium sulfate or molecular sieve are just as viable.
Yes thats all in theory but there are many cases of technical grade 100% ethanol having contamination from poor QC during manufacturing. It was a big enough issue during covid that the FDA issued a list of hand sanitizers that used unapproved alcohol sources in their formulation and had levels of contaminants well above the legal limits that could be absorbed dermally (including benzene).
i get COAs for my solvents and nope. never seen benzene.
My PI used to say the same thing, I call BS. 200 proof ethanol should be just that, and have very few impurities, if any (aside from some absorbed water due to EtOH being hygroscopic). When in doubt, check the COA and SDS. Hell, run it on a GCMS. Edit: it won’t have benzene, possibly trace cyclohexane. Trace levels won’t cause harm. Edit 2: I may or may not have put a drop of absolute ethanol in my tongue once. For fun.
[удалено]
Haha nice! I once made a ring of fire around my labmate with it while he was working at the bench.
Keep it around for cleaning if you have no other use for it
before you throw it away, what were you meaning to buy? might still work
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Yeah if OP just needs a lower concentration they can just dilute it with deionized water right?
Probably better to dilute it down if you wanna flush it. But in that case you might as well keep it as 70% for general cleaning and disinfection of hard, non-porous surfaces. Beware it is flammable (even at 70%). You'll get about <140ml of 70% ethanol which can be sprayed about and evaporates very fast. Could just do a good cleaning session for your windows and counter tops. Just remember to wear gloves.
Diluted ethanol and a tiny bit of surfactant is the formula of like every window cleaner, no?
Not exactly no, window cleaners are usually based on ammonia in Europe at least, it smells of it too. Some glass cleaners and screen wipes though, you are correct. Disinfectant wipes too.
The big fad at the moment is acetic acid (marketed as white vinegar) in window cleaners. At least, that’s the prevalence in the U.K.
Wait, glass cleaner isn't window cleaner?
No, by glass cleaner i mean cleaner for glasses, which needs to not react with the various coatings or your skin. Window cleaner is a bit harsher, and tend to ask you to wear gloves.
I remember the guys in theoretical physics department ordered 100% ethanol from university supplies. Usage declaration: cleaning the Fermi surface
I hope they weren't going to drink it. 100% EtOH can have traces of benzene in it. Our chem professor warned us of this. He knew some were going to try and drink the lab stock stuff. Since EtOH can only be simply distilled to 95%. you need trick to get the last 5% out. Such as adding a small amount of benzene. It forms an azeotrope with the water, allowing it to distill off. There are other ways, but that was common.
it's just a 100ml. Won't be an issue. But do consider using it. Dilute it to 70% and you get hand sanitizer. It can also be a pretty effective fire starter. But of course be careful as the flames are invisible under bright or even moderate light, and if there's some on your hands... well 🫠. It is also great for removing permanent marker and similar inks.
If you use it to start a fire, never pour accelerant on something that is already burning or is still hot enough to ignite the accelerant. If you're at all unsure, don't. It's a great way to learn about burn injuries. If you panic and throw the now burning bottle, you can teach others too. I know you probably know this but for the folks reading along at home, just don't do it. LiveLeak doesn't exist anymore so you won't even get 15 minutes of fame. Maybe 15 minutes of intense regret, but not fame.
15 minutes of flame
You could put a soap bottle dispenser on it and use as hand disinfectant If you mix it with equal part water it's just vodka. Not that I'd recommend drinking lab chemicals, but that's how not-strong the stuff is.
Throw some glycerol/glycerin in to make a less harsh hand sanitizer
OP's next post: "How to dispose of glycerol?" But yeah you're right of course
Throw some orange juice in it to make a less harsh drink
Not a bad idea, but add some water in there, at 100%, it's anhydrous and will burn you a bit. adding 20% water would fix that issue well enough.
Pretty sure I read that counterintuitively diluting with water also made it more efficient at disinfecting. I can't remember the reason.
diluting it with water makes is a better solvent as it's better able to dissolve non lipids with a bit of water in there. Might be related.
That would have been my guess too.
Iirc it's because it requires a certain amount of time (not long) in contact with germs to reliably kill enough of them to disinfect but 100% alcohol dries so rapidly it isn't there long enough. Ie, if you dropped something in the bottle I'd probably disinfect it but just wiping some across a surface won't work. I may be wrong as to the mechanism though. 70% is usually the preferred concentration for a disinfectant.
i dont think you should put in a soap dispenser - it does say to avoid direct contact with skin
Yeah it might dry your hands a little, so it'd probably be better suited as a surface disinfectant. As long as you're careful with fire or extreme heat around it. Additionally, wikipedia says that 70% ethanol is better than 100% at killing bacteria, so you'd be best off diluting it a little either way
During the pandemic, the World Health Organization released guides on how to make your own hand sanitizer and its final concentrations were something like 75% ethanol/isoproply alcohol, 1.5% glycerol and the rest clean water (and optional to add H2O2) https://www.whofreebasics.org/documents/31/Guide_to_Local_Production.pdf
I- hydrogen peroxide? why say H2O2, it alienates it for some people, which may even be OP as they don't seem very scientifically versed (they are mildly scared of ethyl alcohol)
I understand, I typed H2O2 because I was on my phone and had just woke up and it was easier to type
To your credit, you are correct though. :)
People are wild. You can absolutely flush it and don’t think anymore about this. It’s a 100ml going into much more water… would it be safe to fill the toilet with vodka?
Yeah it's instantly going to be diluted quite a bit. There really should be no worries here at all. If you are, just dilute it first. People talking about taking it to a hazardous waste facility lol.
Vodka killed my uncle’s enthusiasm
If you dilute it it won’t be much different from alcoholic beverages. Those go up to 80% ethanol if I’m not mistaken and are usually safe to go into the drain. If you want to be safe just dilute it as much as you want and you’re good to go. I’d keep it for cleaning, though.
But don't drink it. Anhydrous ethanol has to have the azeotrope broken with another substance, which still might be present in trace amounts.
yes this. any potential toxicity is coming from breaking the azeotrope (I know toluene is used but I'm sure there's other possibilities) It's fine for cleaning but don't consume it
Im pretty sure for something like 100% lab grade ethanol and not just denatured alcohol, they dont use anything to manage the azeotrope. Its just prepared to 100% with molecular sieves and bottled as a product with limited shelf-life.
They need to have a drying agent used for anhydrous which is usually benzene IIRC so it's not safe to consume. 95% is fine though
I'm familiar with anhydrous and azeotrope but not familiar with "breaking the azeotrope"..... Can you learn me some interesting facts??? Plz thx! 🙏
Well I'm not really sure of the physical chemistry behind it, but adding a third substance can create a three-way azeotrope with a lower boiling point, so you can distill that off and end up with a higher concentration of what you're looking to purify.
oh so substance A and B can create an azeotrope that will aid in lower boiling point such that substance C (ethanol) could be further purified through distillation? that way you're not capped at the 95% or whatever? did i understand that correctly??
Yep, pretty much
Even higher than that, Everclear is available in the USA up to 95%abv
Yeah but only a few states sell the ninety five percent. A lot of states only sell everclear at seventy five percent a b v.
190 proof everclear is legal/available in over 30 states dude.
Yes
Thank you
I’d say no (that shit could eat up your plumbing). Do what everyone else says and thin it out. Alcohol OR vinegar will clean most anything. Guessing since this the one response you responded to its already flushed.
But it won't harm sewer piping. Use lots of water, since its flammable when concentrated.
Um, literally one of the largest degradations to all sewers pipes is improperly flushed material
I dont know what that means. Dumping 100 mL alcohol in a toilet is less harmful than dumping all the partly consumed drinks and punch after a New Years party. Any sewer pipe that's too fragile for that needs to be replaced.
I’m not trolling you, but when I hear stuff like that I think of rednecks dumping their engine oil into the ditch. I think of nurses dumping heparin into the drain. Our WWMS is meant manage our physical waste, not chemical
Read how sewage treatment works. The question was about 100 mL alcohol, which is beloved by the bacteria that labor for us in primary and secondary sewage trestment. This is not the same as engine oil or nuclear fuel rods.
Why are people suggesting to dilute it before throwing it into a toilet filled with water 🤔 That hazard label is mainly there to reduce liability Unless it specifically says denatured, that should be pure 200 proof ethanol. To label something lab-grade and add a hidden ingredient that can ruin someone’s chromatography or poison their cell culture is not something any company that wishes to stay in business would do
Dump it in your fuel tank. Won't hurt it at all. Former auto tech. And aerospace tech. I'm a nerd. 100ml of elthonal in a even a quarter tanks of fuel won't be noticed at all by your car. Will also make a great cleaner. Not as good as Isopropyl but good enough. I'm not much of a drinker but you could probably mix it with some water and fruit. Might make an ok mash of some kind. Personally If you just want to get rid of it. I'd dunp it in the fuel tank.
Don’t drink lab grade anything… drink food grade chemicals. Lab grade DOES NOT mean safe to ingest
Fuel tank is a great idea! Though as others have mentioned, you wouldn't want to drink this, as there could be traces of benzene.
What grade did you need? You can probably convert it. Or use it to make tinctures. Don’t waste it!
Well, you could dilute it with Cranberry, Orange, or Grapefruit Juice and drink it. Just beware of the side effects!! HeHe! *No, do that. It could be denatured.
lab ethanol often has some stabilizers in it. kerosine is a common one. id suggest strongly against consumption of materials not made for human consumption.
Make sure it is fully metabolized before flushing it down the toilet/s
100 ml isn't that much. Dilute and dump. Ethanol is useful though, I'd personally keep it around. Dilute it a bit to make it much less flammable.
Don’t throw away chemicals. Dilute it with water and use it to clean stuff.
Mix it 1:1 with 100% aloe and use it as hand sanitizer.
I had an extra bottle of 100% lab grade ethanol once. It had "expired" after 1 year, so I took it home rather than throw it out. Stashed it in a friend's freezer and partook every now and then during game nights - ah, memories.
I had a bottle of 89% Absinth. Shotting high strength ethanol isn't fun. Just feels like it's denaturing your throateins.
Oh, we never took shots of the stuff straight. We'd mainly mix it with soda/juice. However, 100% ethanol does have a very unique, strange taste if you lightly sip it. It's almost like your taste buds don't even know how to process it - to me, it always tasted like an extremely sour green apple Jolly Rancher.
“Throateins”! There’s a word I’ve never seen before lol
If it isn't denaturated, mix it with water and you got Vodka. Go wild.
Thank you all for your help.
I would just add about a third more water and use it for cleaning. I've also put it in a spray bottle to shoot down houseflies in our house. It's way better than a fly swatter
Dump it with running water. 100 ml is nothing. No one would bat an eye at dumping a 750 ml bottle of vodka or grain alcohol down the drain.
I was going to say I've thrown a lot more than 100ml into the toilet along with the rest of my stomach contents. Although it had been diluted a bit before I bought it. I used to drink 375ml of 80 proof vodka in one long chug because I was cheap and the buzz would be strong enough that I could sleep with that small quantity of booze. If I was throwing it up there was a lot more than that in there. Haven't touched the stuff in a decade and never will again.
I would keep it to clean my bathroom's mirror.
I wouldn't do this with 100% ethanol because you'd destroy your tissue lining, but you can do this with low concentration ethanol solutions and get rid of them by flushing them up your butt
Boofing? That's going to burn quite a bit, but you will get drunk without having to drink it. /s (don't do this)
Do not drink it. Some jurisdictions add poisons to ethanol to make them undrinkable to prevent abuse. Might not apply to your grade but it might too. Bascially though, fill up your sink with water, pour it in, drain the sink. The toilet would also be fine..
What you mean is generally adding something like pyridine, which smells really bad, vomit inducing, but doesn’t kill you. Adding a non-obvious poison would defeat the whole purpose… Also, it is lab grade, so any additive would interfere with the use.
If it's 100% I highly doubt it contains stuff likr methanol but it may contain a bit of denatonium benzoate to make in undrinkable ig
There's usually a different tax rate for denatured alcohol too which makes lab grade a little cheaper.
True. And there's a risk of traces of other chemicals present that were used to get the last 5% water out.
You can keep it like this and use to clean stickers and stuff, you can dilute it to ~70% and use it for disinfecting or you could dispose of it, if you really want to trow it away I’d say throw it in a bucket of water to dilute it and then flush that down the toilet
Dude, the toilet basically is a bucket of water.
It's safe
If you want a lower percentage of alcohol you could just add water.
Those warnings would be on 100% ethanol of any grade for what it's worth.
Can you use it to the original intended purpose? Most probably it is a waste to dispose it, you can use it for cleaning or something
You don't have 100% ethanol. Maybe 95%. Also, it's fine. It get's diluted.
Is this the same stuff thats used in liquid sildenafil
No. Id rather not deal with drunk rats or alligators.
What did you mean to buy? If you wanted alcohol for cleaning, you could just roughly dilute it to around 75% using water (preferably distilled or deionized water if using for medical purposes). I don't see why you need to waste it, especially as I imagine that 100% ethanol was quite a bit more than the usual 70 or 75% stuff.
Yes. Absolutely fine.
Flushing low MW alcohols is generally not recommended because they are flammable and can kill the little guys used in water treatment. Though I suppose 100mL might be fine. Just dilute it with lots of water. Better yet, you can make rubbing alcohol.
Not really. It will be so dilute by the time it gets to the treatment plant. I was told a story many many years ago by someone who used to work at ICI - they had a visit from the water authority and they directly told them officially you aren't supposed to dump alcohol in the drains, but unofficially dump as much as you like as the bacteria at the treatment plant love it, and thrive on it. And we are talking tonnes, not mls.
There are bacteria that consume ethanol/isopropanol? Or are you talking about more exotic alcohols
Just ethanol, and yes, lots do.
Flushing IS diluting it. It is safe to do so, it's not like you're dumping several railcars worth of the stuff. But I'd keep it for cleaning and/or disinfecting things.
Can kill the little guys in the water treatment if a significant amount is thrown in it directly in WWTP. otherwise methanol and ethanol are used as readily bioavailable substrate in some reactions (denitrification for instance)
I suppose dumping several hundred cubic meters of ethanol might be a problem for the waste water treatment, but even then I’d be more worried about the explosion risk in the sewers.
Question… why do people use the abbreviation MW for molecular weight, when the SI definition is M? In addition, Mw is defined as the weight averaged molecular weight used for polymers.
Maybe you are confusing molarity with molecular weight? Molarity is a measure of concentration (mol/L) and molar mass (g/mol).
M=n/m (M is molar mass, n is moles, m is mass) It’s true that molarity has the same M as sign, regardless Mw is not the way to go. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molar_mass?wprov=sfti1
> regardless Mw is not the way to go. MW is the commonly used abbreviation in full sentences. Just an M is confusing because it's not unambiguous.
Must be an American English thing? However, we chemists should know better.
Nah, pretty normal in Europe too. >However, we chemists should know better. You are thinking there is a problem here, it really isn't. What problem do you see here other than "it's not SI"? And do you really think "It depends on the M." is a better statement than "It depends on the MW"?
Isn’t the SI unit for molecular weight Da (Daltons)? Or is that not SI
Dalton is a non-SI unit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton_(unit)?wprov=sfti1#
Cut it to 80 proof and enjoy you lab grade vodka!
Bonus points for those toxic drying agents that break the azeotrope! #This is not a joke: DO NOT DRINK LAB GRADE ETHANOL
Good ole benzene.
You can have 100% ethanol?
Why all the fuss? Just dump it on the pavement!
I mean, I’d drink it but sure you can flush it down the toilet, its safe
I'd dilute it to 70% with some water and keep it around for cleaning. It would be fine to dump otherwise, especially in that amount. Do NOT drink it, though. Lab-grade ethanol is "denatured" with trace amounts of methanol and propanol in order to discourage consumption and to avoid the liquor tax.
Do you not have defined waste streams?
Most counties have a hazardous waste repository. Ours is at the DPW and Firemen Training Grounds. Try looking into that.
Dont throw it away. Keep it around, you never know. What kind of alcohol did you need? It’ll probably still work, whatever you’re using it for. Also, is there no appropriate waste container in your lab (if you’re in a lab)? If you’re not in a lab, how were you able to obtain 100% anhydrous ethanol? Is that a common thing?
They sell 95% ethanol at the store and people drink it.
If you're overly concerned, you could dilute it with water. Get it below 40% ABV and it probably won't be flammable.
Like... the water in the toilet bowl?
Apologies My assumption was that OP would dilute it and keep it around for later use. They're worried about safety.
Read the safety data sheet.
Chuck it on the asphalt on a hot day and watch it poof into nothing haha
Return it. Toilet are not trash cans, nothing else than shit and piss should go there.
When you have a drink with vodka you are drinking watered down ethanol . Just sayin . Look up anything on distillery. I certainly am not suggesting you do this .
Use it to wipe Down and disinfect surfaces. Do not get it in your skin (wear gloves) or flush it in the toilet or sink.
They sold USP grade ethanol in the stockroom at university. I drank plenty of it and I'm still here.
Safe to flush -but why , keep it , drink it, use it to clean glasses
You can 100% flush this down the drain. PVC pipes will not be affected by ethyl alcohol. Source: am chemical engineer in the PVC plumbing industry.
... WHY ARE YOU THROWING AWAY ETHANOL??
Holy heck I would keep it. But it's gotta stay airtight becuase it'll begin absorbing water as soon as you open it. It'll work really well as a solvent for things that less concentrated ethanol won't touch as much, and it's awesome for cleaning up certain deposits of Mystery Gunk^tm
Just chill out and use it 100 ml is like 3 ounces, just dilute it, I use 90% all the time for fire in my photography, and it does nothing to my skin
If you must dispose of it pour it on a concrete floor outdoors. And leave it to evaporate. Or just leave the lid off the bottle. But you could use it for cleaning and degreasing.
Drink it
If you need to dump it just pour it down the sink and run some water to dilute it for the smell.
People drink entire bottles of that stuff. There's no hazard aside from vapors. And flammability but no worse than gas.
Not allowed to put it in the lab sink as it is "chemicals" - rof(of office not lab)lol Ethyl alcohol dissolves in water so realistically flushing 100 ml is the best wad to dispose of it. NOTE that lab alcohol is often made by azeotropic distillation with BENZENE - exposure to the alcohol is bad enough but avoid contact with it and do not drink the stuff.
Pour down lab sink with copious water. It's probably denatured, but should not be a problem. I would avoid flushing anything down the toilet! That said, what does your lab manual say to do?
Just pour it in the dirt….
Just curious. Would it work in a Coleman lamp or stove?
Dilute it to 70 percent and use it as a disinfectant. Or keep it at high purity and use it as a solvent for cleaning things that don't clean easily with water. Or pour it out on the sidewalk on a hot day. Leave the container open, outside in the hot sun so the last few drops can evaporate. There will be a window of danger lasting less than 30 seconds when it will be a flammability hazard. So make sure during that window, nobody somehow accidentally ignites it. If you think about all the alcohol served in bars that gets spilled and evaporates, your measly 100 ml is nothing but a grain of sand on the beach. So to speak.
Dilute dilute dilute, you want it under 5% when it hits the sewer. But I agree with the others, why dump it? Is it the wrong alcohol or wrong concentration, because you recall that thing about diluting? Likewise if you have storage in your flammables cabinet you never know when you you might need some concentration of ethanol. And doesn't 100% (200 proof) ethanol requires special permission to buy, or have they gone lax on that these days? Used to be a restricted sale so not sure how something like that gets purchased by mistake. I must be getting old...
> Dilute dilute dilute, you want it under 5% when it hits the sewer. Eh, doesn't matter. Get's diluted down there anyways.
Dilute it 1:10 before you dump it and it's like dumping a wine. In terms of hazard it's practically the same as ever clear.
Most towns have a program so you can dispose of hazardous waste safely. Check their website.
If you have to ask. It's probably not a good idea. But yeah ethanol is flammable. It will dissolve water tho its polar enough.
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It's likely to be denatured with some nasty stuff.
Not if it's 100% ethanol
What
Put it in your gas tank 🤷♂️ (don’t actually do this)
Ethanol is souble in water.miscible liquid
no
Late to the party, but I wouldn't drink it if it says 100%. Ethanol by itself cannot be concentrated beyond 96%, so if it's really 100%, it's probably been added a bit of benzene, which is highly carcinogenic. Surprised noone's mentioned this yet.
What kind of fake news is this
Erm, water and 96% ethanol form an azeotrope, and you *can not* purify ethanol further by destillation alone. You have to dehydrate it by other means, and higher concentrations *will* pull water out of the atmosphere all by itself, until it's reduced to 96% again. Look it up.
I’m sure the trillion dollar biotech industry knows way to circumvent hygroscopicity
No one's mentioned it because it's not true.
Erm, water and 96% ethanol form an azeotrope, and you *can not* purify ethanol further by destillation alone. You have to dehydrate it by other means, and higher concentrations *will* pull water out of the atmosphere all by itself, until it's reduced to 96% again. Look it up.
>Ethanol by itself cannot be concentrated beyond 96% Is what you said. It cannot be purified past 96% by distillation alone, no, but 100% ethanol is... 100% ethanol. You do have to be careful with absolute ethanol storage for the reason you mention. >so if it's really 100%, it's probably been added a bit of benzene There are lots of uses of 100% ethanol in biomedical research that requires no benzene to be present, so again.... not true.
Oh if you want your local sewer authority to be really unhappy with you.
It's 100ml of ethanol. The waste water treatment facility will probably survive.
Oh I thought he bought more than that! And you'd be surprised how sensitive those systems can be. I worked in wastewater during my undergrad and we could always tell what lab they were doing at the local highschool by the bug die off rate. It doesn't take a whole lot to disrupt those systems. 100 mL definitely won't do it though.
No, just like the pill heads. That goes to the municipality to be treated for reuse. Imagine that the worker where you live is a 20 something on their phone at work and allowing that back into the area water supply. Sure, it will dilute before it gets that far but imagine a whole town doing that type of practice.
.... it’s ethanol.
So, it doesn’t Belong in the water supply. Burn it off in a fire pit.
Why doesn’t it belong in the water supply? 100 mL of ethanol is a tiny amount, and alcohol goes down the drain all the time.
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You don't think anyone pours beer or wine down the drain? You'd have to pour an immense (industrial) amount of ethanol down a drain to have a noticeable concentration impact at the size of most municipal wastewater treatment facilities, especially if you're worried about killing off beneficial bacteria. Many beneficial bacteria are fine in dilute ethanol, and you really need to be hitting >4-6% before you start killing off the ones that aren't.
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Report anyone for.... what? I work with our local water district all the time, and you seem to have a less than robust grasp of things.
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Depends on where you live. I can buy p. a. Grade ethanol without a problem. It's just gonna be expensive because of taxes.
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