distilling inside

[piro]

Hey guys. I have a vacum distillation apparatus, but im wondering, since i dont have a vacum, can i attach a hose to the vacum adaptor on my glassware and bubble the gasses through water so i can more safely distill inside? Or should i just connect a hose to the vacum adapter and mabe run it out a window?

[Arthis]

You have a vacuum distillation setup, and you want to use it as a standard non-vacuum system. That's your choice, I can't see the interest (or do you lack the pump maybe ?).

This depend on what you're distilling. Obviously, for nitric acid the gas released by the setup are what you want to keep.
In the case of something else you want to purify, like sulfuric acid, the exhaust gas can be dangerous or not depending on what you're distilling.
You need to take the decision case by case. No need to waste water as when distilling sulfuric acid you'll get mostly water, for example.

[knowledgehungry]

He lacks a "vacuum" most likely he was referring to the pump.

[Arthis]

Yes, and the title of the thread makes me think the problem is inside distillation. You should formulate your post in such a manner they are more easily understood.

The vacuum pump does not make the distillation safier. In fact a small part of the gas released is dissolved in the water flush, but depending on the compound distilled, it will still be nocious.

Do your distillation near a window, because if you have to use a big lenght of tube to release nasty gases outside, you may experience problem with rising internal pressure. The pressure problem is always important, that's why vacuum setups are used.
If you don't have the pump, you should certainly not bubble the gas thru water, because that will cause a even higher pressure, and is not very good for the effectiveness of the distillation.

[Trinitrotoluene]

I don't think distilling inside is a very good idea. I remember a few times I distilled acetone, ethanol, and mathanol indoors. But when I tried to distill HNO3 indoors in my kitchen, I was upstairs on I computer I can smell NO2. I guess the reason is the teflon wraped around the stoppers are permisable so NO2 can can diffuse through. I never tried to distill HNO3 indoors again.

[Arthis]

I would say that you can do it with proper equipment. If I had a complete lab, and a dedicated room, with good ventilation, etc., then why not ? But with homemade equipment you would take risks. I have a distillation setup, stolen from the school, without PTFE rubber, so if I had a fume hood I would try inside.

And while distilling nitric acid, supervising the process is useful, instead of surfin' around on your computer ! ;)