The tip Colin read would let insoluble material (e.g. sand) fall to the
bottom of the water. However, most of the grunge is water insoluble,
which is why we use organic cleaners. If the cleaner simply dissolves oil
and grease, but does not react with them to form water soluble compounds,
then I think the oil and grease will remain in the cleaner and will not
partition into the water. Are there any chemists on the list who can say
authoritatively if this hint will or won't work?
Unless it works like a champ, you may not want to mix water and organic
solvents, because you may find it difficult to get rid of the mixture. I
am told that used motor oil is acceptable to our waste center, but motor
oil with water in it is toxic waste and you pay big bucks to be rid of it.
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
On Wed, 7 Dec 1994, Colin Brace wrote:
> I read a tech-tip somewhere, I cannot remember the citation, sorry
> (Hey, I'll be 40 monday, I guess I'm feeling it!), anyway, the tip
> was to fill a container (large pail, 55 gallon drum, whatever) with
> solvent, then fill it the rest of the way with water. The principle
> here being that since solvent is petroleum-based, it will float on
> the surface of the water, set your basket containing parts in the
> pail/drum/whatever only as far down as the solvent is, you would
> have to find a way to suspend the basket without dropping down into
> the water, such as clamping it with vice-grips or something more
> elegant. This way the dirt/grease/grunge falls off down into the
> water, keeping the solvent clean.
>
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