Dissolve (aka Freon-113, aka CFC-113, aka 1,1,2-trichloro-1,2,2-trifluoroethane) was for many years a popular coin cleaner; it was primarily a degreaser. See the first pic. It's nontoxic, nonflammable, smells pleasant, and evaporates quickly. It used to be cheap. CFC-113 was used extensively as a high temperature refrigerant and cleaner/degreaser in the electronics industry (mostly on circuit boards and silicon wafers and chips). Because of its ready evaporation, lack of toxicity and cheapness, the electronics industry simply blew it into the atmosphere rather than recover and purify it. The industry loved it and used millions of pounds per year. Problem is that it is one of the worst ozone-depleters. Not only does it react readily with ozone, it lasts for years in the atmosphere. So its manufacture was banned. Today, when you can find a residual supply, it's very expensive ... like $1 per ml ... in small quantities. You might get it for a nickel per ml if you buy a barrel, but the total cost will be over $1K. It works great on coins, mostly for removing oils, grease and PVC plasticizer. I have about a pint of the precious stuff. After it's been used on coins, I purify it by distillation and use it again. Briefly, an electric heating mantle brings the dirty solvent to a boil. The vapor passes through a water-cooled condenser where it returns to a liquid and is collected. It's similar to the process for making distilled spirits from your favorite fermented carbohydrate source (grapes, corn, etc.). CFC-113 boils at only 118 F, so I can put my hand on the boiling flask and feel no pain. See the pics. And, yes, I'm doing it on the kitchen counter. It's safe because CFC-113 is nontoxic and nonflammable. If you are thinking of doing this with a flammable solvent, like acetone, DON'T! Yes, it's done all the time by folks with training and experience, but with many precautions and definitely not on kitchen counters. With a flammable solvent, one crack in the glass can mean instant conflagration. And there are lots of other ways to explode or incinerate yourself when distilling flammable solvents. Safely dispose of used flammable solvents and buy new. Another caution is that if you are thinking of using an apparatus like this to make hooch, DON'T! First, it's illegal without a license from the Feds. Second, alcohol liquid and vapor are flammable. Third, end-point fermentation, which maximizes the desired ethanol content, also produces nasty compounds, like methanol. Commercial stills run by experienced distillers separate the bad stuff from the good stuff. A simple still like I'm using won't do that. A lot of the stills sold online for making hooch are death traps waiting to spring ... rapidly as in exploding or burning ... slowly as in poisoning. Cal
Better living through Chemistry I used to get this from the Chem Lab in College back in the 80's. Stuff worked great on the "green slime" PVC residue
The coins I usually treat with Dissolve aren't normally very dirty. So, it's hard to see a difference between the used and regenerated solvent. However, there is a residue in the bottom of the distillation flask, which is the crud that was removed. Unfortunately, I've cleaned the flask, so can't show you. Will next time if I think of it. Cal Edit: See my next post to see the "after" photo. Flask hadn't come clean yet.
I'd set the distillation flask to soak in soapy water. So I had a look, and there is still quite a bit of crud that was removed from coins by Dissolve. See the pic. It'll take some scrub-brushing to get rid of the rest. Cal
Is that a whiskey still! Or a meth lab? Just kidding. It looks to scientific for me! Where do you even get that stuff to do that?
You can get a set on Amazon for $159 (without the electric heating mantle and ring stands). See link and pic below. Cal Link: https://www.amazon.com/HMK21-Distil...6A2KJEM1TYB&psc=1&refRID=RB2WFM8WX6A2KJEM1TYB
Used to use one of those 3 necked flasks inside a glove box making silicon diimide for my thesis years ago. The NH4 used to turn copper tubing blue. In hind site, I should have played around with artificial toning instead of trying to density silicon nitride, but nobody liked outrageously toned coins back in the 80s
Tried finding a source for freon 113 online, found one supplier in Europe at $179 for 2.5 ml. Yes it is expensive.
