Re: Denatured Ethyl Alcohol

["Tbarber" <terbarb at alltel_net>]

I looked up denatured alcohol (ethanol) on the web and found that depending
on the source several contaminants can be present.  They are deliberately
added to prevent drinking (make you really sick - if not dead).

The contaminants would also end up in your distillate since they will
vaporize and lower temps than what it takes to boil the ethanol.  The
denaturants are mandated by the feds and  the alcohol cannot be purified by
simple distillation (for the hardcore types it's an azeotrope).  Azeotrope
is a mixture that cannot be purified to 100% only by distillation.  That is
why you only find 190 proof (95%) booze.  Water/Ethanol is an azeotrope too.
 To get 100% ethanol you need to do something else to the 95% mix to get to
the 100% (lot's of ways to do this).  But for drinking purposed who needs to
go to that expense (and danger actually-of drinking it)?

Ethyl Alcohol                
Ethyl Acetate                
Methyl Alcohol              
Methyl Ethyl Ketone
t-butyl acholol
iso-propanol
methyl iso-butyl ketone 
gasoline 

Getting back to the plants - the concentration of contaminants (highest saw
was methy or iso-propyl alcohols up to 9%- the others were several hundred
ppm)  is probably low enough to not harm the decoating of the seeds.     


Terry Barber

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