Methanol and DCM from OTC aircraft paint remover

[Mercury]

I won't disclose the source from which I found this item, but if you have half a brain you should be able to figure it out without any trouble. While I was at the auto parts store last month I stumbled upon their paint section and noticed a gallon container of what appeared to be paint thinner/remover for aircrafts. According to the label on the container, the components of the solvent were "Methylene Chloride" and "Methanol". I was expecting to find "Petroleum Distillates" as an element of the solvent as well since many OTC solvents contain it, but there was no indication of it, so perhaps there is none.

Since these components are very useful in their isolated form, the last thing that remains is how to isolate them from the solvent mixture. Extraction via distillation might be tricky since methanol boils at 64.5°C and methylene chloride boils at 40°C, so perhaps a fractional distillation would be required.

Can these components be extracted by taking advantage of water solubility? Methanol is completely soluble in water while DCM is partially soluble in water at the rate of 20g/L (approximately 15ml DCM/L water). In this case, you would end up with 2 distillations to perform since you must remove the water in methanol and the small amount of water in DCM.

I am led to believe that fractional distillation would be the better option since it seems like less work, but what the hell do I know   .

[fierceness]

maybe this will work?

extract the methanol with water several times and you're left with DCM with a little methanol left.. DCM forms an azeotrope with methanol, so boil that little bit off and you're left with DCM..

As for the water/methanol mixture, I'm not sure what you can do with that..

[Mercury]

As for the water/methanol mixture, I'm not sure what you can do with that..

Well, since the boiling points of methanol and water are not similar, a simple distillation should remove the methanol, leaving water.

But another thing, won't the partial solubility of DCM in water be affected when methanol is present and mixed with the DCM? I mean, since methanol is completely soluble in water, will the methanol prevent water from mixing with the DCM as long as the there is enough methanol present to force the water away from the DCM?

[spectralmagic]

I used to use paint stripper as a DCM source, basically as described above, I would first distill straight from the can (the brand I could get contained some sort of thickening agent which I didn't want to mess up glassware with), then I would remove the methanol using water and distill the remaing DCM.

I never paid too close attention to the water/MeOH mix to see if it held any DCM, it never smelled much like DCM (mainly MeOH).

[homeslice]

There is a paint remover than swim used that is in a black and yellow can that looks like a bee. Its a thick blue goop and it contains a small ammount of methanol, but it seems to be what most bees recommend to get their dcm from. Ya gotta flood the blue goop with some water so it is easier to stir in the flask. If ya dont, it still works but its hard as fuck to clean out of the flask. And as for methonal, this thread seemed kinda new

Post 455602

(wyndowlicker: "MeOH vs. H***", Newbee Forum)

That paint remover is 80% DCM, 5% mineral spirits, 4% MeOH, 10% EtOH

[pooky]

P has always found DCM in plastics and fibreglass/boat building suppliers stores.$25 a gallon,is used for welding plexiglass.