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Cheapskate
(Newbee )
7/24/00 11:32 AM

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Re: Distilling Chemicals for Meth [Post#: 32624 ]

Obtaining Restricted Solvents in California
Folks in California that want to do research into chemistry have a special problem that is not shared in
most other states: Toluene and DCM are just not available outside of a chemical supply. Yes, I know there
are a few stores scattered around that have it, but they're few and far between. If one doesn't want to get
recorded in the DEA's list of nasty people, one has to travel to other states or use mail order suppliers.
Traveling works pretty well, but takes time and money. Mail order still gets you on a list and you have to
pay huge shipping costs for chemicals. Fortunately, with a little work, DCM and Toluene can be isolated
from common paint stripper.
At the local big homeowner store there's a product called Strip Ease. The contents lists Methylene
Chloride, Toluene, Acetone, Methanol as well as some kind of polymer thickener. All of these are useful
solvents to the clandestine chemists, but how to separate them and get rid of the polymer?
If you try to filter this stuff the polymer will clog up anything. Even vacuum filtering for hours doesn't help.
You can't let this stuff set and see a separation of the solvents, the mix makes them miscible in each
other. You can distill them, but distilling a gallon of this stuff is a real pain using the normal flasks and
accessories available to a clandestine chemist's budget. Fortunately, there is a solution!

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First, give up on recovering the Methanol and Acetone. The Acetone isn't worth the work, it's easily
available in gallon containers at the same store. The Methanol is worth the work, but almost impossible to
separate from the Acetone without really special efforts. Methanol can be obtained from the auto parts store
as a product called, "Heet" or something similar.
Go to the local really big discount general department store and get a large stainless steel pot. You want
one of at least 3 gallons capacity, bigger if you want to do more. The pot has to have a good lid and it's
best if the lid has a single knob on the top that is screwed in place. I got a 5-gallon pot for boiling malt for
beer for US$23. When you get this home, remove the knob and replace it with a glass fitting that will fit your
distilling setup. I had a 24/40 female fitting (actually three, from a flask that I broke) available. Yes, you will
have to make the hole bigger; a round file works great for this. If you don't have a glass fitting available, just
silicone seal the distillation adapter directly into the top. You'll eventually break a flask and have the fitting
available.
Now you have a multi-gallon distilling flask. Pour a gallon can of the paint stripper into the pot. Rinse the
gallon can with a gallon of water and put the water into the pot. You now have two gallons of stuff in the pot,
so put the lid on and duct tape it around the lid so there are no air leaks. This pot doesn't have to withstand
pressure, you're going to do this without vacuum, it just has to contain the vapors while it boils.
Now set up to distill. Use electric heat, flames will probably explode the solvents and we need all the
clandestine chemists we can get. The mix will start to boil around 40C the boiling point of DCM. Actually
here's the list of items that you'll get out of the distillation:
Dichloromethane, Methylene chloride, DCM, bp. 39.8, density, 1.3255
Toluene, bp. 110.6, density 0.867
Acetone, bp. 56.2, density 0.7857
Methanol, bp 64.6, density 0.791
Water, bp 100, density 1
As you can see, it should distill over as first DCM, followed by Acetone, then Methanol, Water, then lastly
Toluene, but it doesn't happen this way. There are several azeotropes formed and the water will tend to take
them all over together. This is a very complex distillation, so don't try to figure it out, just get the good stuff
and leave behind the polymer. The whole purpose of this first distillation is to separate the liquids and leave
the polymer behind.
Fluid will come over beginning around 40C and will continue as the temperature starts to rise. Empty the
receiving flask as necessary into a jar and notice that there will be some separation of the fluids in the jar
as they set. Stop the distillation at 90C. Yes, there will be some toluene and water left in the pot, but if you
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as they set. Stop the distillation at 90C. Yes, there will be some toluene and water left in the pot, but if you
go above this temperature the polymer will melt and start to distill over. While you're cleaning the distilling
pot, let the fluids set and separate, there will be two layers. One of the layers is Methanol, Acetone and
Water, the other is DCM and Toluene. Yes, there is some mixing of the solvents still, but the next steps
will take care of most of this.
You want to wash the DCM-Toluene mix with lots of water. Just pour water in, stir it up real good then pour
the water off. There may be some problems here, if the mix is just right, the water layer will be on top and
easier to remove, but if the mix is proportioned differently, the water layer will be on the bottom. This is
where a separatory funnel comes in, to remove the bottom layer. You can tell which layer is which by
pouring water in and watching where it goes. Wash the mix thoroughly at least 3 times with an equal
volume of water to DCM-Toluene. This will remove the Acetone and Methanol as it dissolves in the water
and is poured away. You'll lose a small amount of DCM to this process, but it's not much. DCM only
dissolves in water to 1 part in 50.
You're now left with a solution of DCM and Toluene. The boiling points are far enough apart so that
distillation is easy, but use a fractionating column anyway. There's still enough water in there to make the
distinction between solvents hard to tell during distillation and it's a lot easier to manage the process if the
distillation slows down as the DCM is distilled out before the Toluene comes over.
Depending on the volume of fluids, use a distilling flask or the pot and distill away. The DCM will come over
first starting around 38C to 42C. Change flasks at this point and continue distilling until the temperature
rises over 100C and then change flasks to collect the Toluene. There will be a rather quick jump from 101C
to 110C as the Toluene comes over. The distilling flask or pot will be left with a small layer of green crap
that is useless, discard it. You may be able to recover more DCM from the solvent mix that comes over
between 42C and 100C, but you decide if it's worth the effort to distill this small amount of fluid again, I
never do.
The DCM will be somewhat cloudy with a few drops of water floating around in it, separate the water and dry
the DCM by pouring through a couple of inches of anhydrous magnesium sulfate. Remember that DCM will
dissolve 1 part in 50 to water, well the reverse is true also, so there's some water there. The Toluene will be
clear and pretty with no visible water (unless some dropped in from the setup), but dry it through
magnesium sulfate to remove the water that is invisibly hiding in there. To test that this really worked,
Toluene is flammable and DCM isn't. Put a drop of the Toluene on something and apply a match, it'll burn. If
you do the same to the DCM, it won't burn. Isn't chemistry wonderful?
This technique will work for several brands of paint stripper, even the one with the nasty orange goo in it.
Enjoy.
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Distilling Chemicals for Meth
Re: Distilling Chemicals for Meth
Re: Distilling Chemicals for Meth

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Damien_Thorne

7/24/00 01:39 AM

Unobtainium

7/24/00 02:12 AM

Cheapskate

7/24/00 11:32 AM
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