Denatured alcohol

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

1 US gallon or 3.785 litres of denatured alcohol in a metal container

Denatured alcohol, also known as methylated spirits, metho, or meths in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom; and

recreational consumption. It is sometimes dyed so that it can be identified visually. Pyridine and methanol,[1] each and together, make denatured alcohol poisonous; and denatonium
makes it bitter.

Denatured alcohol is used as a

camping stoves. Because of the diversity of industrial uses for denatured alcohol, hundreds of additives and denaturing methods have been used. The main additive usually is 10% methanol (methyl alcohol), hence the name methylated spirits. Other common additives include isopropyl alcohol, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, and methyl isobutyl ketone.[1]

Denaturing alcohol does not alter the ethanol molecule (chemically or structurally), unlike denaturation in biochemistry. Rather, the ethanol is mixed with other chemicals to form a foul-tasting, often toxic, solution. For many of these solutions, it is intentionally difficult to separate the components.

Uses

Main article: Ethanol § Uses

In many countries, sales of alcoholic beverages are heavily

Pigovian tax). In order to avoid paying beverage taxes on alcohol that is not meant to be consumed, the alcohol is usually "denatured", or treated with added chemicals to make it unpalatable. Its composition is tightly defined by government regulations in countries that tax alcoholic beverages. Denatured alcohol is used identically to ethanol itself but only for applications that involve fuel, surgical and laboratory stock. Pure ethanol is required for food and beverage applications and certain chemical reactions where the denaturant would interfere. In molecular biology, denatured ethanol should not be used for the precipitation of nucleic acids, since the additives may interfere with downstream applications.[2]

Denatured alcohol has no advantages for any purpose over normal ethanol; it is a public policy compromise. As denatured alcohol is sold without the often heavy taxes on alcohol suitable for consumption, it is a cheaper solution for most uses that do not involve drinking. If pure ethanol were made cheaply available for fuel, solvents, or medicinal purposes, it could be used as a beverage without payment of alcohol tax.[3]

Toxicity

See also: List of methanol poisoning incidents and Harm reduction § Alcohol

Despite its poisonous content, denatured alcohol is sometimes consumed as a

unpleasant odour, and agents such as syrup of ipecac
may also be included to induce vomiting.

New Zealand has removed methanol from its government-approved "methylated spirits" formulation.[5][6]

In the

Venedikt Yerofeev, Yuz Aleshkovsky, and Vyacheslav Shishkov.[7]

Formulations

Diverse additives are used to make it difficult to use distillation or other simple processes to reverse the denaturation. Methanol is commonly used both because its boiling point is close to that of ethanol and because it is toxic. Another typical denaturant is pyridine. Often the denatured alcohol is dyed with methyl violet.[8]

There are several grades of denatured alcohol, but in general the denaturants used are similar. As an example, the formulation for completely denatured alcohol, according to 2005 British regulations was as follows:[9]

Completely denatured alcohol must be made in accordance with the following formulation: with every 90 parts by volume of alcohol mix 9.5 parts by volume of

petroleum oil
) in the proportion of 3.75 litres to every 1000 litres of the mixture and synthetic organic dyestuff (methyl violet) in the proportion of 1.5 grams to every 1000 litres of the mixture.

The European Union agreed in February 2013 to the mutual procedures for the complete denaturing of alcohol:[10]

Per hectolitre (100 L) of absolute ethanol: 3 litres of isopropyl alcohol, 3 litres of methyl ethyl ketone and 1 gram

denatonium benzoate
.

Specially denatured alcohol

A specially denatured alcohol (SDA) is one of many types of denatured alcohol specified under the United States

tert-butyl alcohol and denatonium benzoate, N.F. In the United States and other countries, the use of denatured alcohol unsuitable for beverages avoids excise taxes on alcohol.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Ethanol Denaturants". The Online Distillery Network. 22 November 1993.
  2. ^ Gelling, Cristy (13 June 2012). "Which Type of Ethanol Should I Use? - Bitesize Bio". Bitesize Bio. Science Squared. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  3. ThoughtCo
    . Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  4. ^ Blum, Deborah (19 February 2010). "The Chemist's War". Slate. Archived from the original on 6 August 2018.
  5. ^ Gates, Charlie (14 April 2010). "Meths drinking on the increase". stuff.co.nz.
  6. ^ "Denatured Ethanol Group Standard 2006" (PDF). Environmental Protection Authority. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  7. ^ "Некодифицированные спиртные напитки в поэме В. В. Ерофеева «Москва — Петушки»". Archived from the original on 26 November 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  8. doi:10.1002/14356007.a09_587.pub2
  9. ^ "The Denatured Alcohol Regulations 2005". Office of Public Sector Information. 2005.
  10. ^ "Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 162/2013 of 21 February 2013". Official Journal of the European Union. 22 February 2013.
  11. ^ Section. Edocket.access.gpo.gov. Retrieved on 29 May 2011.
  12. ^ What is specially denatured alcohol (SDA)? definition and meaning Archived 10 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Businessdictionary.com. Retrieved on 29 May 2011.
  13. ^ TTBGov Denatured Alcohol Archived 6 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Ttb.gov. Retrieved on 29 May 2011.
  14. ^ 2004 CFR Title 27, Volume 1 Archived 14 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine. access.gpo.gov. Retrieved on 29 May 2011.

External links

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